


The Elizabeth Series

by EmmaTheRevelator (MaybeItWasMemphis)



Category: Original Work
Genre: Collection is old and not beta read, Eating Disorders, F/M, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Implied/Referenced Emotional Child Abuse, Lupus, Past Drug Addiction, Please read with caution, Romance, Second Chances, Short Stories, Smut, TRIGGER WARNINGS ALL AROUND!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:34:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 25,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22629427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaybeItWasMemphis/pseuds/EmmaTheRevelator
Summary: Everyone always wonders about the one (s) who got away. Elizabeth Windsor is no different. In each short-story she lives out the life she could have had with men from her very complicated past.REPOST FROM MY OLD ACCOUNTNOT BETA READ!
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Male Character





	1. The Companion

_"You were my life. You know what the most difficult thing was? Coping with what happens next, or with what doesn't happen next."_

**~ Doctor Who**

Elizabeth Windsor (no, not THAT one) sighed as she watched her two-year-old nephew, Mason, jump off of the porch into the snow. It was the first week of November, and winter was already in full force. Elizabeth hadn't been able to take the little boy anywhere in over a week. One nor'easter after another had struck, and everything was either shut down or inaccessible without a snowplow.

Elizabeth lived with her older brother, Gabe, and looked after his two kids, Mason, and his fourteen-year-old older sister, Natalie. Gabe was divorced from his alcoholic wife and needed all the help he could get. He was the owner of the town's only auto repair shop and was rarely, if ever, home.

Twenty-eight-year-old Elizabeth had come to live with Gabe when his ex-wife, Jean, was still in the picture and pregnant with Mason. Her life had entered a downward spiral back home in her native Georgia. After two miserable and volatile years, she had finally broken up with her abusive, on-again/off-again fiance, Ajax. Still, she was living with her verbally abusive and manipulative father. She was also a hardcore drug user who was addicted to prescription pills. Gabe was the only family that she had that seemed concerned. He had bought her a bus ticket, and she had packed her bags and headed north to Williamstown, Massachusetts. She had gotten clean and had sought out help for the crippling anxiety that she had lived with all of her life. When Gabe had gotten divorced and retained full custody of the kids, Elizabeth had stepped up and become the family caregiver.

It was literally freezing outside, but Elizabeth figured that it was safe to let Mason let off some energy by playing in the snow for a few minutes while they waited for his dad to arrive home from work. Sure enough, the sound of her brother's tow truck could be heard rumbling up the street, and within a few minutes, the blue beast was parked in the driveway. Elizabeth could make out the shape of a passenger in the cab, but the windows were tinted so she couldn't see who it was or even if they were male or female.

Gabe got out first because it appeared that his passenger was on the phone. “Hey, Lizzy, hope you don't mind, but I told my new mechanic that he could stay in the guest room for a week or two until he can find a place of his own.” He stomped his boots on the porch steps to clear the snow off of them.

Lovely, a house guest. Elizabeth really wished Gabe would have run this one by her first. It would have at least given her the time to make up the guest room... a guest room they only had because of her big brother's habit of picking up strays.

“He just moved up here from Georgia.”

Okay, that piqued her interest. Elizabeth wondered which part of the Peach State he hailed from. Not many people migrated from the south to the north. It was usually the other way around. Most people looked at Elizabeth and Gabe like they were crazy when they found out that the siblings had willingly moved from Dixie to bitterly cold New England.

Elizabeth didn't have to wonder about their mystery guest for long. The moment he stepped out of the cab, she knew who he was. He had moved from Savannah, Georgia, but he was originally from the village of Sleepy Hollow in New York. This stranger wasn't a stranger at all. “Axel,” she gasped.

“Elizabeth,” he jumped a little in surprise.

“I take it you two know each other?” Gabe looked at the two of them with a raised eyebrow.

Mason walked up to Elizabeth, suddenly mittenless and rubbing his little hands together. Whew! Saved by the toddler. “Lizzy, I's cold.”

Elizabeth reached down and picked the little blonde boy up. “Yeah, we know each other,” she finally answered Gabe's question, but she refused to look at Axel. “He's Ajax's little brother.” She took Mason inside and briefly paused in the doorway of the living room to address Natalie and request that she go and look for her little brother's gloves.

Natalie set her book aside and huffed as she stood from the couch, “why does he always take them off? He probably put them in the mailbox again.” She walked out the front door at the same time that Gabe and Axel were walking in.

As the men stopped in the foyer to kick out of their boots, Elizabeth made her escape upstairs to give Mason his evening bath. She had no idea why she had been so abrupt and rude. She had never had a problem with Axel. Unlike Ajax, he was a good man. Sure, he had some issues when he was younger. He had done a three-year prison stretch for stealing cars in his early twenties, but he had gotten his life on track upon his release. She thought he was one hell of a mechanic and that Gabe's garage was lucky to have him. He was also pretty damn noble. He had been the only one to ever try and protect her from Ajax's violence. He used to hang around their apartment as often as he could because he knew his brother would never lay a hand on her in front of a witness. Behind his back, Axel was always encouraging her to get clean and get away from Ajax.

Maybe Axel's kindness was the problem. Axel was a good man, and he reminded her of her past... and past in which she had pretty strong feelings for him. When Elizabeth had first met Axel, she had already been with Ajax for over a year. In fact, they had just gotten engaged because Ajax figured that a diamond ring would fix all of the problems in their relationship. Axel was fresh out of prison and came to live with the two of them for a few months while he searched for a job and a place to live. Elizabeth couldn't help but be taken with him. On top of being chivalrous, he was also charming, funny, and handsome. His brown eyes and buzzed cut dirty blond hair combined with his muscular build and many, many tattoos had always painted a picture that made her think of a more legit, hardcore Mark Wahlberg.

She took her time bathing Mason, letting him play in the tub a little longer than was usual. Her nephew took full advantage of the extra playtime. He proceeded to use his rubber duck and toy boats to stage an epic water battle that would have made Jack Sparrow proud... and completely drenching Elizabeth and the bathroom floor in the process. Her white long-sleeve t-shirt was soaked clear through by the time she opened the bathroom door and released a pajama-clad Mason upon the rest of the house.

Unfortunately for Elizabeth, at the exact moment that she exited the bathroom, Axel was coming up the stairs carrying a duffel bag. When he arrived in front of her, he stopped, and his eyes lingered on her full chest for a moment, and she had to resist the urge to cover herself with her arms. She was wearing an emerald green bra under her shirt, and it was clearly visible thanks to her little brat of a nephew. Maybe if she pretended not to notice the transparency of her top, she could keep what little was left of her dignity. Her breasts were the only part of her anatomy that she liked about herself. She was so short, barely taller than her teenage niece and chubby. She had hips and an ass that never seemed to get slimmer no matter what she did. She had stopped dying her hair years ago and, in her opinion, it was now a dull, stringy blonde. If he had to get a peek at the goods, at least he saw the ones that were actually, ya know, good.

“Hey, Companion, which room's the guest room?” Axel tore his eyes away from her chest and smiled at her.

Did he have to use that nickname? He had given it to her because they shared the same geeky habit of watching re-runs of _‘Doctor Who’_ on _BBCAmerica_ on lazy Sunday mornings. The one time she had returned the favor and playfully called him 'Doctor,' Ajax had heard her, gotten the totally wrong idea, and severely punished her for it later. She never made that mistake again.

“Seems like old times, huh?” Axel made another attempt to draw her into a conversation. “Me right down the hall...”

“Yeah, sure,” she gave him a weak smile before turning around and hurriedly making her way into her bedroom and closing the door.

Elizabeth barely spoke a work to Axel at dinner and went and hid in her bedroom the minute that she had put Mason to bed for the night.

She was lying in bed, watching a _‘Criminal Minds’_ marathon on TV when nature called. Cracking open the door, she peeked into the hallway to make sure that the coast was clear. The light in the guest room was on, but the door was closed. She slowly slipped out into the hallway, hoping that the wooden floorboards creaking wouldn't give her away as she tiptoed towards the bathroom at the end of the hall. She made it there undetected, but she was met with a smirking Axel upon exiting. He was leaning against the mahogany banister with his arms crossed over his chest. He had obviously been waiting for her. Fuck.

“What do you want?” she huffed in annoyance, wishing she was wearing something other than a pair of black yoga shorts and a tight white Eminem tour tank top.

“The Recovery Tour.” He ignored her question and nodded at her shirt. “We went and saw his set at the _Bonnaroo Festival_ in Tennessee. AJ was supposed to come with us, but he bailed at the last minute.”

Yep, Ajax had bailed on the trip to shoot up heroin and sleep with one of Elizabeth's co-workers from the Food Lion Grocery Store where she worked at the time... in their bed.

Elizabeth sighed. “What do you want, Axel?” she asked once again.

“To know why you're avoiding me,” he told her bluntly. “Just because you broke up with my idiot brother doesn't mean that we have to stop being friends, Lizzy.”

Really? Elizabeth thought that was the first rule in the Brothers Handbook: 1.) Thou must break all ties with brother's trampy ex. A lot of her friends back home in Savannah ran in the same circles as Ajax, and she had heard the things that he had said about her after their split. Apparently, at one house party, he had gotten so drunk that he had referred to her as the 'Wicked Bitch From the Slut Lagoon.' If those were the kind of things that he told his friends, God only knew what he had said to his brother.

“You remind me of a past that I'm trying very hard to forget,” Elizabeth told him a half-truth.

“And I wasn't a good part of that past?” Axel's shoulders slumped a bit, and he actually looked a bit hurt.

Elizabeth found herself feeling guilty. She guessed her words had come out a bit harsh. “You were the best part of that past... that's the problem,” she told him honestly but cryptically.

She watched him as he took a moment to comprehend her words. She knew the moment that he decoded what she had said because a slow, cocky grin spread across his face as he stalked towards her like a lion to its prey.

“Ax... Axel, what are you doing?” She tried to back away, but he grabbed her gently but firmly around the waist and pulled her flush against him.

“I'm taking what always should have been mine,” he said gruffly before crashing his lips to hers.

For a moment, Elizabeth was in too much shock to actually respond. Axel was kissing her, and he tasted deliciously like wintergreen toothpaste. Movie-star looking Axel was kissing plain-Jane, chubby Elizabeth. How was this possible? Before she knew it, her body started responding of its own accord. She parted her pouty lips to allow his tongue entrance. Their tongues dueled for a moment before she surrendered dominance. He slowly licked along the roof of her mouth before he pulled away, nibbling on her lips as he went. He leaned his forehead against hers as they both fought to regain their breath. “Your room or mine?” he asked against her lips before giving her another quick kiss.

This snapped Elizabeth back to reality. “We can't, Axel.” She backed away and shook her head.

“Why not, Companion?” Axel demanded as he took her off guard and pulled her back into his arms. They were so close that she could feel his arousal against her stomach, and it made it hard to think.

“Because I used to be engaged to your brother. I took out a restraining order on your brother!” She tried to make him see reason. “He detests me, and your parents hate me! We could never actually be together, and if all you're looking for is a one-night stand or a fuck buddy... you're barking up the wrong damn tree.” 

Without any warning, Axel's hands found their way down to her ass, and he lifted her up so that she was forced to wrap her legs around his waist. Not seeming the least bit bothered by her weight, with the spiderwebs of his sleeve tattoos straining deliciously, he carried her down the hall and into her bedroom. He lightly kicked the door closed before gently laying her down on top of the queen-sized bed's rumpled bedcovers. “I haven't spoken to my family in years, Companion, and I don't care if you were with AJ first. If you hadn't have hooked up with him while I was locked up, I never would have met you,” Axel whispered to her huskily as he hovered above her. “And I'm not looking for a one-night stand, sweetheart,” he laughed a little bitterly as he stole a quick kiss before continuing, “I've wanted you since the day that I met you. I want my chance with you, Elizabeth.”

“Why haven't you spoken to your family in years?” That was the only thing that she could think of to say to his sweet words. She needed a moment to process her emotions, and he had thrown that information out there, almost like he had wanted her to ask.

“Because of the way they treated you, babe. My mom and dad treated you like some lying whore when you and AJ broke up. They did it to save face when it was an open secret what he'd been doing to you for years. I wanted no part of that shit.”

Fuck. Her. Life. She was in love with him, and she no longer had any excuses as to why they shouldn't cross the sexual line.

“Come on, Companion, let me have you.” There was a raw need in his voice, and Elizabeth found herself giving in.

She gave him a shy little smile. “Okay... Doctor.” No Ajax around to stop her from saying what she wanted, and there never would be again if Axel's words were anything to go by.

Axel smiled and dipped his head down to steal a passionate kiss.

They lay there, exchanging sweet, lazy kisses for what felt like forever. Elizabeth didn't feel her regular anxiety kick in until she felt Axel reach for the hem of her tank top. She reached down and stilled his hands with hers.

“What's wrong, babe?” he asked, looking at her in concern.

“Axel,” she said so softly that she was barely audible. “I probably don't look like the other women that you've been with under this shirt.” Ajax had always reminded her of how overweight she was. She knew that Axel had been with women much sexier than her. Come on... he looked like he had stepped right out of _The Italian Job_.

“Whatever AJ told you about how you look was a fucking lie, sweetheart.” He pushed her hands away and pulled her tank top over her head a bit roughly. His words were final, as though he expected no arguments.

Elizabeth wasn't wearing a bra underneath her tank top and immediately moved to cover her breasts with her arms. Axel caught both of her wrists in his hands and pinned them above her head on the mattress with a growl. “Don't you ever fucking hide yourself from me,” he told her harshly before he crashed his lips to hers. He released her hands and let his travel down to her breasts. “You have the most beautiful fucking set of tits that I have ever seen,” he said as he kneaded them gently. Hearing the coarse language that was coming from Axel's lips, so out of character, and feeling his hands on her had moisture gathering between her legs in no time. “I love how they overflow out of my hands.” He took one nipple and then the other into his mouth before moving his hand down to caress her belly. “You're not chubby, sweetheart. Your stomach is flat, it's just not defined. I love that. It looks more womanly to me, and that’s sexy as hell.” Before she knew it, he had pulled her shorts and panties down and off and was laying himself between her spread thighs. She felt his length rubbing against her moist center, and a little moan escaped her lips. Axel smiled and ground himself against her as he reached both hands down and squeezed her ass, and her eyes fell closed. “I love this ass, Companion. All nice and heart-shaped. It's perfect for grabbing onto while I'm making love to you.” He stopped his ministrations and reached up a hand to gently stroke her cheek. “A goddess like you has a child-bearing body... and I hope that someday maybe you will want to carry my baby.”

The heavy emotions that were running through her body were suddenly almost too much for Elizabeth to bear. She had been with the wrong brother all along. A few tears made their way down her cheeks, and Axel leaned down to kiss them away. “Now's not the time for tears,” he told her as he started moving again. “Let me make my baby feel better.” He slowly kissed his way down her body until he was face to face with the most intimate part of her anatomy. He gently blew on her, causing a shudder to run down her spine before leaning forward and taking a slow, long taste of her. It wasn't too long before he had her withering beneath him. Right before she went over the edge, he pulled his mouth away from her.

Elizabeth groaned in frustration, and Axel smirked at her. “Don't worry, Companion. The Doctor's got something way better for you.”

That should have sounded like the lamest thing ever, but for some reason, to Elizabeth, it was the sexiest damn thing that she had ever heard. Axel pulled his t-shirt over his head, exposing his six-pack abs and the large tattoo of a fallen angel riding a motorcycle that was inked across his chest. He quickly kicked out of his red pajama pants and settled back between her legs. “You ready, baby?” he asked as Elizabeth felt his tip poking lightly at her entrance.

“Please,” she begged breathlessly.

Axel pushed forward, and in one long thrust, he was encased inside her. “Fuck,” he hissed and held completely still for a moment. “You are so fucking tight.”

Axel was longer than any lover she had ever had and way thicker. It took her a moment to adjust to his girth, but once she did, she was arching up into him. “Please, move,” she thrust her hips upwards and begged wantonly.

He started off with long, slow thrusts, rocking against her as they shared tender, sensuous kisses. But it wasn't long before they both lost control and got lost in each other.

“I'm close, babe,” Axel panted as he thrust into her at an increasingly rapid pace.

“Me too,” Elizabeth panted, her hips rising up to meet his every thrust.

Axel reached down between them and gave her a soft push towards ecstasy. It was just as Elizabeth went crashing over the edge that she felt him jerk and spill himself inside of her.

They lay there, he collapsed on top of her, for a few minutes, catching their breath and both coming down from their mutual highs before a word was spoken. It was Axel who broke the silence. “Please, tell me that this means that you're mine now, Companion?” he asked as he leaned up on his arms and placed a kiss in the valley between her breasts.

“If you want me to be... Doctor,” she replied meekly. She had been (unknowingly) his for a long time.

He withdrew from her body and moved to lay on his back beside her. Axel held out his arm for her, and Elizabeth took the invitation and cuddled up against his muscular chest. He kissed her temple. “I want to keep you for as long as you'll let me,” he told her as he held her close to his chest.

Was forever too long? She wondered.

The next morning, Elizabeth awoke to Mason bouncing on her bed at 5:30 in the morning. Luckily, she and Axel had been smart enough to put their nightclothes back on the night before after their lovemaking.

“Chill out, dude. It's still early.” Elizabeth pulled the hyperactive toddler to sit on the bed so that he wouldn't wake Axel.

“Jake pweeze,” Mason requested as he settled down in the middle of the bed.

Elizabeth grabbed the TV remote and turned on the television set that sat on her dresser. She flipped through the channels until she came upon an episode of ' _Jake and the Neverland Pirates,'_ Mason's favorite show. She then reached over to the nightstand and grabbed the sippy cup full of water that she placed there every night in anticipation of Mason's customary early morning visits.

As soon as he had his cup, Mason lay back on the pillow in the middle of the bed with one of his little arms behind his head and watched a few minutes of TV. As was his routine, he fell back to sleep with his sippy cup hanging out of his mouth. He would sleep for another hour or two.

Chuckling to herself, Elizabeth reached over and took the sippy cup, setting it back on her nightstand. She lay back down and wrapped her arm around the toddler, and he rolled over and cuddled into her chest with his little thumb now in his mouth. She enjoyed this time with her nephew the most when he was sweet and cuddly and not yet wide awake and possessed by Satan.

Elizabeth was surprised when Axel scooted closer and wrapped a lazy arm around both of them. “You're a natural mom,” he mumbled sleepily without opening his eyes. 

Elizabeth hadn't exactly grown up with the picture of perfect motherhood. Her mom had been a workaholic with a penchant for drinking and partying on the rare occasions when she was home. She had died of lung cancer when Elizabeth was a teenager. Axel had no idea how much his words actually meant to her. “Thanks,” was all she could think of to whisper back.

“I gotta go with Gabe to pick up my truck from the shop in a few hours. The guys put snow tires on it for me. After that, do you think you'd want to tag along while I go apartment hunting?” Axel asked, opening his eyes a little, his voice still husky with sleep.

“Do you mind Mason and maybe Natalie tagging along with us?” Elizabeth questioned. Even though it was Saturday, Gabe would still be going into work. Mason obviously couldn't be left alone, and Natalie didn't like to be alone when she was home. She developed the family curse of anxiety and the fear of being alone that Elizabeth herself suffered from.

Axel leaned over the top of Mason's head and kissed her softly. “No problem, baby.”

Gabe noticed the change in both of them the minute they stepped foot in the kitchen that morning. Elizabeth, usually a pretty terrifying beast when she woke up and the exact definition of 'not a morning person,' had a soft smile upon her face. Axel chatted animatedly to little Mason as he made both him and her a cup of coffee. Obviously, something had changed between the two of them, but like the good big brother that he was, he kept his mouth shut... for now. He just watched them with a knowing smirk as he sipped from his traveler's coffee mug.

“Hey, Gabe,” Elizabeth got his attention as she placed a frying pan on the stove. “Do you mind if me and Axel take the kids out later? He asked me to go apartment hunting with him.” She stopped and took a deep breath, as well as a look around. “Where's Nattie? Still in bed?” she inquired after her absent niece.

Gabe snorted. “It's 8 AM on a Saturday morning, and she's a teenager... yeah, Nattie's still in bed,” he answered her last question first. “And dude,” he turned to look at where Axel was leaning against the counter beside where his sister was cooking. “Why don't you just stay here? We have the room. You'd be able to put money away to buy your own place down the line.”

“You sure, man?” Axel was obviously surprised by the invitation.

Gabe nodded. “We have an extra room, but it's not like you won't be sharing a room with Lizzy anyway.”

Elizabeth spit out the sip of coffee that she'd just taken.

Gabe burst out laughing at her. “I'm not stupid, short fry,” he informed her.

“You're cool with this?” Elizabeth gestured between herself and Axel.

Gabe nodded. “As long as you're safe and happy, it's fine with me.”

Elizabeth looked like she was unsure of what to do with herself. To give herself something to do, she retrieved the eggs, butter, and milk out of the fridge and set them on the counter next to the stove.

“Companion,” Axel finally turned to look at her. “Can I talk to you in private for a minute?”

Elizabeth looked a bit uneasy.

“Go,” Gabe told her encouragingly as he stood from the kitchen table. “I'll take care of breakfast. I think I can handle frying bacon and scrambling a few eggs without disaster.”

The moment Mason heard his father mention scrambled eggs, he went running towards him, “I crack, I crack!”

Elizabeth let Axel lead her out of the kitchen and into the living room. He closed the heavy wooden door that sealed the room off from the rest of the house. He took a seat on the couch and pulled her to sit in his lap. Her heart was beating so fast that Elizabeth thought that it very well might beat right out of her chest.

Axel reached up a hand and pulled her face down to his for a soft kiss. “Relax,” he smiled at her when he pulled away. “I don't want to talk about anything bad,” he assured her.

Elizabeth let herself relax a little bit. “What do you want to talk about?” She leaned back against his chest and laid her head on his shoulder.

“How do you feel about the idea of me moving in?” 

Elizabeth quickly sat up straight. “Are you serious?” she asked, trying to conceal the fear and excitement in her voice.

“As a heart attack,” Axel nodded. “Would you be cool with me moving in?”

“It's just really soon,” Elizabeth chewed on her bottom lip. “Do you really think we're ready to live together?”

“We've already lived together,” Axel pointed out. “The only thing that would be different this time is that we would go to bed together at night, instead of just wishing we could like before. I love you, and I'm pretty sure that you love me too...”

Whoa! “Wait, you love me?” She looked at him with a shocked but still slightly guarded smile on her face.

Axel cocked his head and looked at her in confusion. “I thought I'd made that pretty clear last night... you know, making love to you and telling you that I wanted to have a baby with you.”

“You didn't actually say the words, Axel.” Elizabeth shook her head, happy tears pooling in her honey brown eyes.

Axel reached up and cupped her cheek. “That was my mistake.” He was looking into her eyes when he said, “I love you, Elizabeth.”

“I love you too, Axel,” Elizabeth's voice was a bit choked up when she replied.

Axel was fully moved in by the end of the weekend. For the first time in her life since before she had met Ajax, Elizabeth was truly happy. She had her family, and she had the man that she loved. A man that treated her the way that she deserved to be treated. She went to sleep every night in Axel's arms. She cuddled with him and, oftentimes, Mason when he wandered in, every morning. The framed tenth series _‘Doctor Who’_ poster that now hung above the bed was a dead giveaway that it was no longer just her room.

Before they knew it, a year had passed, and it was the morning of their second Thanksgiving together as a couple.

It was seven in the morning, and Elizabeth was in the kitchen getting started on cooking the day's meal. Natalie was in the living room with Mason. It was so early that the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade hadn't started yet, so Natalie was watching _The Rugrats Go Wild!_ with her little brother to keep him busy while Elizabeth cooked.

Elizabeth started a pot of coffee and went about stuffing the turkey. Once that was completed, she put the bird in the oven and pulled a pan of cinnamon buns out that she had popped in earlier. It was as she was pouring milk into Mason's no-spill cup that Axel joined her in the kitchen. He wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and kissed the back of her neck. “Good morning, Companion.”

“Morning, Doctor.” She screwed the lid on Mason's cup.

“Need any help?” Axel pulled away to fix himself a cup of coffee.

“Not in here,” Elizabeth shook her head. “You can go and relieve Nattie from keeping an eye on Mason. She wants to have a shower before the parade starts, and Gabe's sleeping in.” He always did on his rare days off.

Axel nodded and stole a kiss before grabbing his coffee and Mason's cup and leaving the kitchen.

It was three in the afternoon, and everything was under control in the kitchen. The turkey was basted and cooking nicely. Her pies were cooling on the counter, and all of her sides were ready to go. Sticking with Windsor family tradition, everyone was gathered in the living room decorating the Christmas tree.

“When Lizzy was in the second grade, we were putting up the Christmas tree, and she appears with this little handmade candy cane ornament. She blushes as she tells us that a little boy in her class made it for her. She's about twenty when we run into him again on Sunday at church. Turns out... he had grown up and joined the priesthood,” Gabe laughed as he told the story while helping Nattie make a garland out of popcorn.

Elizabeth resisted (barely) the urge to smack her brother as she hung said candy cane ornament on a sticky branch of the tree.

After he finished pouring water into the tree stand, Axel got to his feet and pulled her in for a hug, dropping an affectionate kiss to the tip of her nose. “Don't worry, babe. The day I join the priesthood is the day you have my head examined because there is no way that I'd give you up if I was in my right mind.” His lips found hers, and he kissed her lightly.

“Come on, Axel,” Natalie groaned in disgust. “That's my aunt. I don't need to see that.”

Axel's cell phone started ringing in his jeans pocket as he pulled away from her chuckling. He dug the device out of his pocket and frowned when he looked at the display.

“Who is it?” Elizabeth asked in concern.

“My mom,” Axel said in a voice devoid of all emotion. He quickly stepped out of the room to take the call.

Later that night, as they lay in bed, Elizabeth, with her head on Axel's chest, she broached the subject of the phone call from this afternoon. They hadn't spoken about it, and Axel hadn't seemed to be too bothered by it. “What did your mom want?”

“She said that she missed me and that she wanted to bury the hatchet,” Axel replied without opening his eyes. “I told her that me and you are together and that if she wants to have me in her life in any capacity, she has to accept you.” He spoke like it was no big deal.

“You really said that?” She was completely taken aback. This was his family, his blood, that they were talking about. Those ties ran deep, no matter how pissed off a person was.

Axel sighed and sat up to lean against the headboard. He pulled her up to snuggle against his chest and looked down at her seriously. “Of course, I did. You're a non-negotiable part of my life, Elizabeth.”

Elizabeth just smiled before leaning up and stealing a kiss.

Soon Christmas Eve was upon them, and there was a hyperactive three-year-old waiting for good ole' St. Nick and a teenage girl keeping her fingers crossed for a new iPad. Of course, because he wanted to make up for working long hours and never being home, Gabe had been a sucker and waited in line for eight hours on Black Friday to order Natalie one.

Elizabeth was in the kitchen getting a plate of butter cookies ready to set out for the jolly Christmas elf, and the rest of the family was in the living room watching ‘Jingle All the Way’ when the doorbell rang.

Who in the world would be ringing the bell at nine at night on Christmas Eve? They had received four feet of snow the night before. No one in their right mind was out on the roads unless they had to be. She heard Axel answer the door through the closed wooden door of the kitchen.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Whoever it was, Axel was NOT happy to see them.

“Mom told me that you called and asked her to send you Grandma's engagement ring. I was in New York, visiting some friends, and I thought I'd drive up so I could meet my future sister-in-law.”

Ajax Harris was standing at the front door... and Elizabeth had let her restraining order expire six months earlier. Having Axel around and living with her big brother made her feel safe. Ajax lived down in Georgia while she resided in Massachusetts. Elizabeth thought that her chances of running into him were slim to none. She hadn't wanted to burden an already overburdened court system by filing for what she truly believed was an unneeded extension of her restraining order against him. Wait a second... Axel had called his mom for an engagement ring?

“You need to leave, bro,” she heard Axel order, and all thoughts of marriage quickly left her mind. This could end up going very badly very quickly. Ajax and Axel only shared one trait in common... hair-trigger tempers.

“What is this chick like a dog or something?” Ajax laughed. His words came out fast and a little bit slurred, a dead giveaway that he was high.

“AJ, you're tweaked, man, get lost. There're kids in this house that don't need to see you like this.” Axel's voice was getting angrier.

“Natalie, take your brother upstairs to your room and lock the door,” Gabe's voice joined in the mix right before the sound of footsteps could be heard hurrying up the stairs followed by a bedroom door closing.

Finally, deciding that she wasn't going to spend the rest of her life scared of Ajax, Elizabeth took a deep breath and opened the kitchen door. She walked down the short hallway, and for the first time in years, she found herself standing face to face with her greatest fear. The man who had almost destroyed her.

When Ajax saw her, he was enraged. “You have to be fucking kidding me! This bitch? You're marrying this nasty bitch?!”

“That's my sister you're talking about motherfucker!” Gabe got right up in Ajax's face causing the younger man to take a few steps back out onto the snow and ice-covered front porch.

“You're really going to marry my sloppy seconds?” Ajax sneered at Axel. “You're really going to marry the ugliest of all my exes?”

Elizabeth felt like she had just been punched in the stomach, and something inside of Axel just seemed to snap. He reached out and roughly grabbed Ajax by the collar of his New York Yankees winter coat. “No, I want to marry the goddess that you were stupid enough to lose, my best friend. You aren't welcome here, big brother. Get fucking lost, or I'm calling the cops. Remember, you're still on parole,” and he shoved his brother backward. Ajax was unable to catch his footing in time and ended up falling back off of the porch, landing on his ass in the snow. Axel slammed the door shut and locked it.

“You two should talk.” Gabe gestured between the two of them. “I'll make sure the asshat leaves and take care of the kids... they are mine after all.”

Without saying a word, Axel reached out and took her hand before leading Elizabeth down the hallway and back into the kitchen. He closed the door and pulled out a kitchen chair, nodding for her take a seat. Elizabeth did as instructed.

Axel crouched down in front of her. “Are you okay?” He studied her face intently, looking for any sign that his older brother's unexpected visit had distressed her in any way.

Elizabeth nodded. She really was okay. Seeing the pathetic excuse for a human being that her ex had become had really allowed her to finally conquer her fear of him. Sure, Ajax had said some pretty hurtful and awful things, but his opinion didn't matter to her anymore. It should never have mattered in the first place. The only thing she was thinking about was all the talk – yelling – about marriage. “Do you really want to marry me?” she asked softly, looking at him from underneath her long eyelashes.

Axel got back up to his feet and pulled a simple gold and diamond ring out of the pocket of his jeans. “What do you think, sweetheart?” He held the ring out to her. “Do you feel like being my companion for life?”

A huge smile spread across Elizabeth's face, and she quickly jumped up to her feet. “Wait here,” she ran to the tree in the living room and retrieved the small, thin gift box wrapped in blue and silver paper shiny paper. Returning to the kitchen, she handed Axel the present. “Before I take that ring, I think you should open your Christmas present first.”

Axel raised an eyebrow at her, but he set the ring down on the kitchen table and made quick work of the wrapping paper covering the box. When he opened the small white cardboard gift box and saw a positive pregnancy test, he very nearly dropped it. “Are you serious?” A big grin spread across his face.

Elizabeth nodded and smiled, “twelve weeks.”

Axel pulled her into his arms and lifted her off her feet, briefly spinning her around before setting her back down on her feet. “You're having my baby, you better put that ring on your finger, Companion,” he ordered jokingly before giving her a quick kiss.

“On one condition, Doctor,” Elizabeth laughed and wrapped her arms loosely around his neck.

“Name it, beautiful.”

“I have to have your last name before this baby does.”

“Deal,” Axel kissed her softly before pulling away. He grabbed the ring off the kitchen table and slipped it on her finger.

**_ FINIS _ **


	2. Real Good Man

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own any of the rights to the song lyrics used in this story. I am merely a fan.

_"Let a woman have her place, because as you provide a foundation for her, she provides a foundation for you. and through that vulnerability comes strength."_

**~ Shemar Moore**

He watched from the back porch as she swung from the tree swing that had been installed for her nephew and listened to the music coming from her cell phone that lay on the ground at her feet. She looked miserable.

"Now, do you see why I called you?" Her brother, Gabe, asked from behind him.

He sure did. Lawson Wade hadn't seen Elizabeth Windsor in six months. Not since the day that she had left Georgia for good. They had been broken up at the time of her departure. Every time he got too close to her, she would run. They had broken up and gotten back together a grand total of three times. When they had broken up for the last time, she had gotten engaged to some idiot grocery store manager named Ajax. The marriage hadn't even lasted a year before she filed for divorce on the grounds of abuse. The moment the papers were filed, she had hopped on a bus and headed to New England to live with her brother, his wife, and their two children. He thought that she would be okay. She had saved herself from an abusive marriage and had gone to live with the only family that she had that cared about her. He had thought wrong. It was the middle of July when he had gotten the call from Gabe. Elizabeth had fallen into a deep depression that he couldn't snap her out of, and she refused to seek help for her problems outside of the family. Gabe, knowing how close Elizabeth and Lawson had been sought him out in a last-ditch effort to save his little sister. Lawson didn't even have to think. The second that he knew Elizabeth was in trouble he had left his employees in charge of his A/C repair business, found someone to care for his dogs, and had hopped in his truck and started driving north from his home just outside of Atlanta, Georgia. He had made the drive in under two days and was exhausted by the time he arrived in the small town of Williamstown, Massachusetts.

"Are you sure she wants to see me?" He questioned Gabe.

"I can prove it to you, just hang back and listen," Gabe's wife, Jean, stepped off the back porch and walked to where Elizabeth was swinging.

"How are you holding up, kiddo?" Jean sat on the ground next to the swing.

"I'm okay," The smile that Elizabeth gave her was half-hearted at best.

"So, I have an exercise for you," Jean continued.

Elizabeth stopped swinging. "What kind of exercise?"

Jean was a psychiatrist and was treating Elizabeth herself...when she could stay sober long enough, that was.

"You seem to respond best to music, so to help you focus your mind and emotions on what you really want, we are going to use music therapy." Jean reached for Elizabeth's phone and handed it to her. "Now, I want you to go through your song list and play me a song that reminds you of a happy time from your past."

Elizabeth took the phone and scanned her list until she found the song that she was looking for.

_"Hey, ya'll, is that my dog up on the roof?_

_And good God, why's my car out in the pool?_

_All I remember was a phone call,_

_Now the party's on,_

_Someone knocking on my door._

_I don't know what the hell went on round' here last night,_

_But now I'm picking up beer cans,_

_What a mess,_

_Oh man,_

_Who's that passed out in the yard?_

_All that's left in the firepit is one of my lawn chairs,_

_And a piece of siding off my barn._

_Somebody doing donuts must have hit the mailbox,_

_Cause it's laying out there in the road._

_There's a flood in the bathroom,_

_A hog in the kitchen,_

_A dude on my couch with a bloody nose._

_I don't know what the hell went on round' here last night,_

_But we musta had a good time._

_Hey yall, why's my bed not in my room?_

_And good God, how did my face get black and blue?_

_All I remember is a bring it on,_

_A pour it strong,_

_And all the girls getting down._

_But now I'm picking up beer cans,_

_What a mess,_

_Oh man,_

_Who's that passed out in the yard?_

_All that's left in the firepit is one of my lawn chairs,_

_And a piece of siding off my barn._

_I guess we used the table top for a game of beer pong,_

_And the back porch for a dance floor._

_Somebody took the shower rod,_

_Turned it to a strip pole,_

_Man, there's a hole punched through my door,_

_I don't know what the hell went on round' here last night,_

_But we musta had a good time."_

"Why that song?" Jean asked as it came to an end.

Lawson didn't even need to hear Elizabeth's answer. He knew why she had chosen that song. The band that performed it, Parlamee, was from his hometown in South Carolina. When the two of them had been in their late teens, they used to drive from Atlanta to Fort Mill to watch them perform.

When he turned his attention back to Elizabeth, Jean was again asking her to choose a song. "Now, I want you to play a song that reminds you of someone from your past, someone that you miss,"

Lawson knew that Jean was leading Elizabeth, and he wasn't sure how he felt about it, but he would have been lying if he said that he wasn't curious what song she would pick.

 _"Girl you never know no_ _one like me,_

_Up there in your high society,_

_They might tell you I'm no good,_

_Girl they need to understand,_

_Just who I am,_

_I may be a real bad boy,_

_But baby I'm a real good man._

_I may drink too much and play too loud,_

_Hang out with a rough and rowdy crowd._

_That don't mean I don't respect my mama or my Uncle Sam,_

_Yes, sir,_

_Yes, ma'am,_

_I may be a real bad boy,_

_But baby, I'm a real good man._

_I might have a reckless streak at least a country mile wide,_

_If you're gonna run with me,_

_It's gonna be a wild ride._

_But when it comes to loving you,_

_I've got velvet hands._

_I'll show you how a real bad boy,_

_Can be a real good man."_

Again Lawson knew why she had played that song, but he needed to hear her say it this time.

"Who's that song about, Liz?" Jean asked.

"Lawson," Elizabeth replied simply.

Jean shook her head. "You're still in love with him, sweetheart. You need to tell him. You can't go on living like this...it's a half-life."

He watched as his girl shook her head. "I messed everything with Lawson up so badly that I'm pretty sure that he wants nothing to do with me, I was so screwed up back then. He treated me like a queen, and I ran away every time he wanted to take our relationship to the next level." She sounded so broken. "I'd rather live like this than have him look me in the eye and tell me that he hates me. I couldn't take it." She shook her head.

He could never fucking hate her. She had been the love of his life since they had met when they were both nineteen. Jesus, that had been almost ten years earlier.

"One more song, but I'm going to leave you alone to listen to this one and think," Jean stood up. "I want you to play a song that describes what you want from a relationship."

Jean walked back to the porch and smirked at him. "See what she plays and then please go and take that girl out of her misery," She instructed as she grabbed Gabe by the arm and dragged him inside.

Lawson had to restrain himself from going directly to her side. He needed to hear what she would play. He needed to know what she wanted this time around. This would be his last attempt to be with her...not because it was her last chance, he would always be there for her, but because he wasn't going to let her run this time. He would do whatever it took to keep her healthy, happy, and by his side. A decade was too long to wait to be with the person you loved.

He couldn't help but smile a little when he heard the song that she played.

_"They read you Cinderella,_

_You hoped it would come true,_

_That one day your Prince Charming would come rescue you._

_You like romantic movies,_

_You never will forget,_

_The way you felt when Romeo kissed Juliet._

_All this time that you've been waiting,_

_You don't have to wait no_ _more._

_I can love you like that,_

_I would make you my world,_

_Move heaven and earth if you were my girl,_

_I would give you my heart,_

_Be all that you need._

_Show you you're everything that's precious to me._

_If you give me a chance,_

_I can love you like that."_

The one and only dance that they had ever shared had been to this song while at his cousin's wedding. He watched as she wept as it played. He didn't even let the song finish before he was by her side and pulling her out of the swing and into his arms. When she noticed it was him, she cried even harder.

"Please, tell me it's really you," She begged. "Please, tell me this isn't all in my head again,"

He brushed some hair away from her face and leaned down and kissed her forehead. "It's really me, hon," He assured her.

"What are you doing here?" She pulled back to look at him questioningly as she tried to dry her tears in a futile effort to gather control of herself.

"Your brother told me you needed me...and I've missed my baby," He tightened his arms around her as she tried to pull away. "You're not running away from me this time, hon. You're stuck with me, so you might as well get used to it now." He informed her. "No more games. You've belonged to me since we were teenagers, and this time I'm fucking keeping you."

She stopped struggling...like he knew she would. He had always possessed a strong, forceful personality, and he had always been the dominant partner in their relationship. He knew that if he spoke to her forcefully enough, she would listen and comply with his demands. A part of him wondered if it was that aspect of their relationship that always scared her into running. She had been born into a family with six children in Chicago. She had moved to Atlanta, Georgia, when she was just a toddler, and her home life had been far from happy. Her parents put on a happy façade to cover up the fact that their thirty-year marriage was a sham. Her mother had died when she was fifteen from complications arising from lupus, and she and her younger sister had been left in the care of their manipulative father. Her father had been domineering, but he used his power to control and emotionally abuse his children. Lawson would never do that to her. He only ordered her around when it was for her own good, and he only ever did it as a last resort.

Yes, he was controlling and possessive...but he loved Elizabeth with every fiber of his being. He would never hurt her and had never hurt her. The only thing he wanted was to make her truly happy for the first time in her life. He just had to convince her to give him a chance because no matter how many times they had been together, she had never really let down her guard with him.

"I've fucked up," She whispered against his chest. "I have no idea what I'm even doing with my life. You told me once that I would be lost without you and I hated you so much for that...but you were right," The tears began to fall again. "I left you, and my life went to shit,"

He rubbed her back. "Your problems aren't your fault, baby. Your mom, your dad, your LIFE did this to you," He kissed the top of her head. His 6'2 frame made this very easy, given the fact that Elizabeth was only 5'2. "I have never once blamed you, hon."

This just made her cry harder. "I want you back," It came out like a plea.

Why was she begging? He didn't understand. She always had a home with him, in fact, her home WAS with him. He would never turn her down when he wanted her just as much, if not more than she wanted him.

"If you want me back, you have to come home with me," He informed her sternly.

His business was in Georgia. Yes, he could arrange to open a branch in Williamstown, and from what he could tell, he would be the only A/C repair business in town, but that would still take months if not a year. He made good money, but he wasn't well off by any means and couldn't afford to just up and move at the drop of a hat.

She pulled her head away from his chest and looked up at him.

"Okay," She consented.

"Okay?" He hoped his ears weren't playing tricks on him.

She nodded. "On the condition that you don't mind me staying here until the third week of February,"

That was oddly specific.

"Why?" He questioned.

He was still in a bit of shock. It sounded like she was willingly handing him everything that he had ever wanted from her...the chance to truly be with her.

"I want to be here for the holidays and my nephew Mason's birthday is the day after Valentine's Day, I don't want to miss any of it. It's been a long time since I've had a family holiday." She explained.

Well, it looked like his brother Travis was going to get that overtime that he had been begging for. If she was willing to leave her family and come home to Georgia with him, than he could brave one fall and winter in the Berkshires for her.

"Deal," He bent down and captured her lips in the first kiss that the two of them had shared in what felt like forever.

Later that night, as he was gathered with Elizabeth and her family in the living room of Gabe's house, he realized three things. One, her family truly loved her, and she loved them. Two, both Gabe and Jean had massive problems. Gabe seemed to pop a new pill every half an hour and was nodding off, and Jean was so drunk that she wouldn't shut the hell up. Three, Elizabeth was the one who kept the kids cared for and the household running. He was starting to see why she was so hesitant to leave. Who would look after almost-two-year-old Mason and fifteen-year-old Natalie if he took Elizabeth back to Georgia? He made a mental note to call a lawyer and see what the options were for protecting the children from their parents' vices. One thing was for sure. He and Elizabeth weren't leaving until he knew those kids were protected...even if it meant moving to Massachusetts or taking the kids home to Georgia with them.

Both Gabe and Jean stumbled up the stairs not long after seven to pass out. Natalie had left to go see a movie with her best friend, Kylie, and he and Elizabeth were alone with baby Mason. They were in the kitchen doing the washing up. He was doing the dishes, and she was wiping down the counters. Little Mason was sitting on a towel on the floor, devouring a popsicle...and turning himself blue in the process. Lawson had been confused when Elizabeth had first laid down the towel...but now he totally got it.

"Why didn't you tell me what was going on with your brother and Jean?" He finally asked as he placed the last plate in the dish strainer to dry.

She sighed and turned from where she was scrubbing tomato sauce off of the counter to look at him. "I was embarrassed," She admitted. "You saw how messed up my family down south is, and I guess I didn't want to have to tell that my family up here is just as bad...I figured you would see for yourself...which you obviously have."

She knew that once he saw how bad Gabe and Jean were that he would never make her leave...that's why she had agreed to move so readily. The manipulative little brat. Was it odd that her unique, and slightly supervillain like trait of manipulating situations in her favor was actually a turn on for him?

He chuckled and walked to her side, pulling her into his arms. "You don't have to be embarrassed with me, I've already seen you at your worst, and it's not your fault your family acts like they jumped straight out of a soap opera,"

She smiled and stood up on her tiptoes to kiss him. His curly, muddy river hair that he kept shoulder length was untied and tickled her face.

They pulled apart when Elizabeth felt something hit her leg. Looking over, they found a smiling Mason...he had thrown his now clean popsicle stick at them.

"More," He demanded and clapped his hands.

They both laughed, and she stepped away from him. "No more tonight, Mr. Man," She went and picked the sticky, _Smurf_ -colored baby up off of the floor. "It's bath time for you," She balanced him on her hip, so used to caring for the child that she wasn't concerned that he was getting her just as sticky as he was, and turned back to Lawson. "Where are you staying?"

"Here with you," He crossed his arms and smirked at her.

In the past, she would have panicked and been utterly uncomfortable with the situation. Lawson was the only one of her serious exes that she had never lived with. The longest continuous time that they had spent together had been a one-week vacation to Illinois to visit her grandmother in Chicago...and she had been in the middle of one of her breakdowns, and the trip ended up being a nightmare.

"Good," She smiled and jostled Mason a little to make him giggle. "Just a head's up, Mason doesn't have his own room, so he kinda bed hops...and he usually ends up with me,"

She departed the room, and Lawson was amazed. His girl had grown up. She wasn't afraid of him anymore. He was so fucking proud of her. And what was this about Mason not having his own room? Some things obviously needed to change around the Windsor household.

That night, as predicted, Mason joined them in bed. Lawson had never been much of a kid person, but even he had to admit that the boy was adorable. He lay in between them, holding his sippy cup of milk in one hand while the other was folded behind his head. He forced the couple to watch an episode of something called _Paw Patrol_. It was the stupidest fucking show that he had ever seen, but it made the baby giggle. Luckily, after one episode, Elizabeth found a tolerable cartoon from their childhood, _Rugrats_ , being played on _Teen Nick_. Mason seemed to like the speech impaired babies even more than the talking dogs of _Paw Patrol_.

A knock came on the bedroom door.

"Come in," Elizabeth called.

Natalie poked her head in. "Just wanted to let you know that I'm home," She explained.

It wasn't lost on Lawson that Natalie notified her aunt and not her parents of her safe arrival home.

"Thank you, sweetie,"

Mason handed Lawson his sippy cup and stood up in bed with his arms outstretched. "Sissy, hug," He demanded.

Natalie fully entered the room and met the baby at the foot of the bed for a hug before leaving the room.

Mason toddled back up to stand in between them with a hand on each of their shoulders. He leaned down and kissed Elizabeth on the lips. "Night, night, Lizzy," He turned to Lawson and took back his sippy cup. "Night, night Lacy," He kissed his forehead and laid back down in the middle. He was sleeping within minutes.

Once the boy was asleep, he heard Elizabeth softly giggling to herself.

He propped himself up on his elbow to look at her. "What's so funny, hon?"

"Mason called you Lacy," She put a hand over her mouth to stifle her giggles so she wouldn't wake the baby.

He mock growled at her. "You are so lucky there's a child between us, right now,"

Elizabeth leaned up on both of her elbows. "And why's that tough guy?"

He reached across Mason and grabbed her by the fabric of her silk nightgown. Careful not to wake the sleeping baby, he pulled her mouth to his for a steamy kiss. "Because if there wasn't, you wouldn't be gettin' much sleep tonight, sweetheart,"

He felt the shiver that ran through her body and smirked to himself. He knew the effect he could have on her when he really tried. There had been a lot of problems in their relationship, she had trust and mental health issues, and he had a short temper and wasn't always as understanding as he could have been in the early years. But that was before he truly understood her. The one aspect of their relationship that had always been successful was their sex life. They were so fucking good together. They hadn't rushed into sex when they had first started dating. He had had a vast number of previous lovers from a rather adventurous high school career, and she had been a shy virgin with Body Dysmorphic Disorder. From the first day they met, Elizabeth had brought out a tenderness and protectiveness in him that before her, he hadn't been capable of. He knew that he had to take his time with her. They hadn't even kissed until their third date. He had given her a ride home from her job as a grocery store cashier, and she had impulsively leaned over and kissed him before running away in embarrassment. It had taken him two days to get her to pick up the phone again after that. They had made love for the first time in the bed of his truck one warm June night. It would be a lie to say that he hadn't planned it because he had. He had parked his truck in an abandoned tobacco field, laid out some blankets, and held her in his arms as they laid there and looked at the stars while taking tokes off of a joint that he had bought off of his brother for the sole purpose of relaxing her...it had worked. She had started kissing on him, and it wasn't long before he had her withering in pleasure beneath him. He remembered that she had been shy and clumsy at first but more than willing to learn...and his girl had been a fast learner. After their first time, they hadn't been able to keep their hands off of each other. They went at it whenever and wherever they could. Their favorite place was the shower. It afforded them privacy from his roommates and her family when they stayed at her place, and the running water covered up all of the sweet sounds that he drew out of her.

"Well, you know," She kissed him again. "Mason will stay asleep until morning, and the bathroom is right next door..." She trailed off, but he got what she was hinting at.

"What are we waiting for?"

They slowly snuck out of bed to avoid waking Mason and tiptoed to the bathroom. Once the door was closed and locked, Elizabeth turned on the water. The house was ancient, and it took forever for the water to heat up. This gave Lawson more time to undress her and admire the woman that he loved more than anything in the world.

When she went to pull the shower curtain back, he stopped her and pulled her naked body into his arms. He picked her up, forcing her to wrap her legs around his waist. Her moist heat rubbing against his throbbing length almost made him see stars. "I need to tell you something before this goes any further," He rubbed his nose against hers.

"What?" She asked.

"I love you, Elizabeth," He kissed her softly.

"I love you, too, I always have," She leaned in to gently bite his neck.

She knew what that did to him, and he couldn't wait anymore. Still holding her in his arms, he pulled back the curtain and stepped into the tub. He pinned her to the shower wall as the hot water beat down on his back and devoured her mouth. He wanted to take his time with her, love her properly, but it had been so long that he didn't think he was going to last long.

She seemed to read his mind. "Slow and sweet later, hard and fast now,"

God, she was fucking perfect. In one quick, hard thrust, he was buried inside of her.

"Ow," She whimpered a little.

"You okay, hon?" He asked against her lips.

She nodded, "I just forgot how big you were. Ajax wasn't even close to your size; I just need a minute to adjust."

Was it wrong that the alpha male inside of him roared with pride as she said that?

After a minute, she started rocking her hips against his. "Please, move baby, it's been so long," She moaned.

He didn't need any more invitation. He started drilling into her at an almost brutal pace. He'd forgotten how tight and wet she could get for him. She fit him like a glove. It was like she was made for him. It wasn't long before he had to kiss her to muffle her screams of ecstasy, and he was spilling himself inside of her.

As he laid kisses on her neck and shoulder, he briefly stopped to wonder if she was on any form of birth control, but then he realized that he didn't fucking care. It wouldn't be a bad thing if she got pregnant. She was a natural-born mother, and he was no longer afraid of fatherhood like he had been in his youth. Truth be told, he would love to see the woman he loved swollen with his child...he wondered how she would feel about that.

The next morning, he awoke alone in the queen bed. It was a little after nine, and Mason and Elizabeth must have already been awake for hours. He sat up in bed and listened to the noises coming from downstairs.

"Natalie, I swear to God, if you don't vacuum up this dog hair right now, I am talking Blu and having her shaved," He heard Elizabeth threaten. "Mason, no climbing on the counters! Auntie will get you your banana in just a minute."

It sounded like his girl could do with an extra set of hands, but he had a phone call to make first.

He called his lawyer in Atlanta and explained the situation the kids were in. He was met with bad news. Because Elizabeth was unmarried with a documented history of depression and anxiety, it was very likely that a judge would deny her custody of the kids. If Gabe and Jean were drug and alcohol tested, it was also very likely that Natalie and Mason would be placed in foster care...or even worse with Elizabeth and Gabe's mentally abusive father. He asked what Elizabeth's chances of getting custody would be if she was married...to him. His lawyer had explained that her chances went up considerably. He was going to have to talk to his girl.

Quickly throwing on a pair of jeans and a Van Halen t-shirt, he made his way downstairs. He found Natalie using a shop vac to vacuum along the floorboards to get up the hair that her husky was shedding. Elizabeth was just exiting the kitchen with Mason on her hip. The little boy was inhaling a banana like it was the first time he had ever had seen one before.

"Morning," She smiled at him and blushed, but she didn't look away. She really was braver than she used to be.

"Morning," He leaned forward and kissed her cheek, ruffling Mason's hair at the same time. "What are you guys up to this morning?" He inquired.

"Well," She leaned forward so Natalie wouldn't hear her. "Jean's passed out hungover and Gabe's at work." She raised her voice to normal speaking levels. "And Mason's sissy and her friend Kylie are going to take him fishing on Pontoosuc Lake in Pittsfield. He was just having a quick snack before they left."

Perfect, he would have some alone time with her.

"You wanna take a ride with me after the kids leave? I wanted to talk," He knew they could talk privately in the house, but drives had always been their thing. It had always been more comfortable for them to open up and talk in his truck as they drove around aimlessly, holding hands.

"Sure, as long as we don't go too far in case the kids need me," She nodded.

See, natural-born mother.

An hour later found them driving through some small town in upstate New York that was only thirty-five minutes away from Williamstown. They hadn't said a single word to each other, so he decided to get the conversation started.

"I called my lawyer this morning," He informed her and chanced a glance out of the corner of his eye to see her reaction...there really wasn't one.

"And?" She didn't even ask what about.

"He says if you filed for custody of the kids as a single woman, you wouldn't have much of a chance," He didn't mention her mental health issues. He knew she blamed herself for those issues and didn't want to give her any more shame to carry.

"And if I was...not a single woman?" She seemed to phrase the question as delicately as she could.

"You'd stand a good chance. Is your divorce final?" He questioned.

She still wasn't freaking out. This was good.

"I didn't get divorced," She shook her head, and his heart sank. "The marriage was annulled four months ago on the grounds of fraud. I didn't know he was heroin-addicted when I married Ajax."

Her marriage had been annulled? Legally, that made it as though it had never happened. He could marry her and, in the eyes of the law, still be considered her first and ONLY husband. This made the possessive side of his personality very happy.

"Where are you going with this Lawson?" She demanded. "Before you go any further with whatever it is you're doing, let me warn you...me and those kids will NOT be anyone's obligation...all three of us deserve better than that."

He smirked. That comment right there proved that she knew exactly where he was going with the conversation...and wasn't entirely against the idea. She just wanted to make sure that he was doing it for the right reasons. She wanted, and deserved, a family based on love...and that's what he wanted to give her.

He reached over and took her hand in his. "Baby, you're not an obligation, you're my life...I'll admit that when I came up here, I didn't expect two kids to be part of the package, but I'm okay with it. They both seem like great kids...I'm just sorry their parents are the way they are."

"Me too," Elizabeth gave a humorless laugh.

He pulled into the first parking lot he could find, which turned out to be the parking lot of the Lebanon Valley Speedway, and killed the engine.

He turned in his seat to look at her. "Marry me," He said forcefully. "I'm not asking because that never worked. I'm telling you that you're going to marry me."

She opened and closed her mouth a few times without a sound coming out.

"And so you can't chicken out, we're driving to Atlantic City first thing in the morning." He continued. "We'll be married by tomorrow night,"

"Okay," She whispered.

Had it really been that easy? He wasn't going to question it. If he questioned it, she'd start questioning it and chicken out. He was even more surprised when she leaned forward and kissed him.

"You know the track's closed right now, right?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

Where had his shy little lamb gone? He didn't care...he liked the lioness that she had grown into. He pulled her over to straddle his lap as he pushed the driver seat backward to give them some room to play.

It was as he bunched her jean skirt up over her waist and pushed the fabric of her panties aside and went to slid into her that she froze and stopped him. "Condom," She gasped against his lips. "I'm not on anything,"

He smirked and gently bit her bottom lip. "You let me have you last night without a rubber," He reminded her.

"Fuck," Her eyes went wide. "Fuck, fuck, fuckity, fuck, fuck, fuck!"

He laughed. He had missed her creative use of expletives when she was panicked. He used the distraction of her panic to his advantage and caught both of her wrists in one hand to restrain her as he used his other to rip the fabric of her panties away. He pulled her down on him until he was buried in her to the hilt.

"You fucker!" She hissed angrily but still rocked her hips against his. "Are you fucking crazy?"

"No, I'm fucking you," He pulled the top of her tube top down to release her breasts and thrust his hips up sharply to illustrate his point.

She moaned. "I could get fucking pregnant," She smacked his shoulder.

"So, we're getting married tomorrow, remember?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

"You did this on purpose!" She gasped. "You're trying to get me pregnant!"

He reached down and grabbed her hips to guide her movement. "Yep, you got a problem with that baby?" He thrust up sharply a few times. She damn near screamed.

"No," She managed to gasp out.

"Then shut up and enjoy this," He ordered as he leaned forward and took a nipple into his mouth.

She did as she was told.

She hadn't chickened out much to Lawson's amazement. The moment they had arrived back at the house, she had pulled Natalie aside and asked her to look after her brother for a couple of nights. They had been on the road at five the next morning. They were pronounced husband and wife at eight that night.

During the ceremony, Elizabeth had held eye contact with him the entire time, and when the vows she was asked to repeat included nothing about obeying, she had added that phrase in herself. She had finally accepted their relationship for what it was. He was the dominant partner and was the one who took care of her, but they were one hundred percent equals. Even as his submissive other half, she still took care of him in her own little ways, and by allowing him to express his dominance, she was accepting him for who he indeed was. Society might not understand the dynamics of their relationship, but it worked for them, and that was all that mattered.

Two weeks later, the two of them moved into their own three-bedroom apartment...and filed for custody of the kids based on their parents' substance abuse. After a surprise drug and alcohol test by Child Protective Services, the kids were removed from their parents' care and moved in with Lawson and Elizabeth. A month later, the couple was awarded custody of the kids with Gabe and Jean receiving only supervised visits until after they had each completed a stint in rehab. That was the same day that the courts gave them permission to move to Georgia. By the end of summer, the couple and the kids were settled in at Lawson's four-bedroom ranch just outside of Atlanta. Natalie was enrolled in the local high school, and to help him socialize a bit more, Mason had been enrolled two days a week at a local daycare...he also had his own bedroom for the first time in his life. They were still working on getting him to actually stay there at night.

It was now Halloween night, and Lawson stood on the porch waiting for his family...God, that still felt weird to say...but in a good way. They were going out trick or treating, and while he may love his wife, niece, and nephew...there was no way in hell that he was dressing up, so he waited for them to finish getting ready.

He was looking down at his watch when the screen door finally opened. First to run out was little Mason, dressed as Olaf from _Frozen_. Next was Natalie...she was either _Little Red Riding Hood_ or a witch...he wasn't really sure. Last out, the door was his wife. The moment he saw her, he knew...she was trying to kill him. She was dressed as Amy Pond from _Doctor Who_...Amy Pond wearing her kissogram uniform. This was going to be a very long night.

"So, why Amy Pond?" He asked her as they walked the neighborhood holding hands. Natalie and Mason were slightly ahead of them going door to door.

She shrugged. "I was in a _Doctor Who_ mood this year...and she's the only companion to ever get pregnant,"

It took a moment for what she was saying to fully register, but once it did, a blinding smile overtook his face. "You're pregnant?"

"Yep," She made a popping sound with her P. "Two months, along,"

He grabbed her and kissed her right in the middle of the sidewalk while Natalie grabbed Mason's hand and walked to the next house, pretending that she didn't know them.

"I love you so fucking much, Mrs. Wade" He kissed her forehead.

"I love you, too," She giggled.

** FINIS **


	3. Lupus Nix

_"I don't forgive people because I'm weak, I forgive them because I am strong enough to know people make mistakes."_

**~ Marilyn Monroe**

Elizabeth did not feel like doing this today. She hadn't felt right in months. She was exhausted all of the time and there were days where it felt like even her hair hurt. Today was one of those days. It was bitterly cold outside in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was early December and they had just received their first Nor'easter of the year two days earlier. This after an Indian summer that had lasted well into November. The drastic temperature change was messing with her weak immune system.

  
She had told all of this to her younger sister but Harper had begged and pleaded. Her old friend was flying up from Georgia to visit and would be landing in Boston, a good three hours away. Harper had suddenly gotten called into work at the hospital where she worked as a pediatric nurse three nights a week and Elizabeth, feeling like crap that had been run over found herself parking her car in the lot of Logan International Airport and making her way inside as ominous heavy snow started to fall.

  
She pulled out her cell phone as she arrived at baggage claim...she had no idea who she was picking up. All Harper would say was that she would know him when she saw him. Harper didn't answer and she was shoving her cell phone back into her purse while she tried to avoid shivering from the mixture of cold and pain running through her body. When she looked up she felt like throwing up...and it had nothing to do with how bad she was feeling.

Collecting a New York Yankees duffel bag off the baggage carousel was Ajax Harris...her ex-fiance. He had been the love of Elizabeth's life until he had fallen into heroin addiction and his personality had changed. He went from sweet and loving to cruel and callous. When he had refused to seek treatment Elizabeth had broken off the engagement and moved with Harper to Williamstown to be closer to their brother and his family. She hadn't seen him in three years although she knew, frustratingly, that Harper kept in touch with him. Her little sister never gave up on anyone. She hadn't given up on her when she had battled anorexia and she hadn't given up on Ajax. Two years ago Harper had told her that Ajax had found sobriety and been diagnosed as bi-polar and was seeking treatment. She had told her sister that she never wanted to hear Ajax's name again and she hadn't heard a word about him since. How could her sister have invited him of all people to visit? And why hadn't she at least given her a head's up? Her cell phone chimed and she looked down to find a text message from Harper. **_***You said you never wanted to hear his name again***_** She was going to murder the younger woman.

  
Finally, Ajax noticed her and she was at least satisfied to see that he was surprised to see her. He walked to her side with a small smile on his face. "Hey, sweets." Some pieces of his long, red curly hair had escaped his ponytail and she had to restrain herself from reaching forward and tucking it behind his ear.

  
"Hey, Ajax, how was your flight?" She asked politely as she flexed her fingers in her mittens. Her joints were feeling very tight.

  
"Bumpy, they almost rerouted us to New York because of the nor'easter about to blow through here," he responded.

  
Nor'easter? She hadn't heard another storm was coming...but then again she had been in such a hurry to complete her chore that she hadn't taken the time to check the weather before she had left. She took out her phone and pulled up the local weather radar. Sure enough, a large blue blob was slowly heading their way. "Fuck," she cursed.

  
"What's wrong?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

  
"We still have a three-hour drive ahead of us and it's almost rush hour...in Boston. If we don't get on the road like yesterday we're going to get stranded."

  
He nodded at her and they hurried to the parking lot. At the car, Ajax asked for her car keys.

  
"Why?"

  
"Because I'm New York born and raised. You're a country girl, I don't want you driving in this weather," He shrugged.

  
The arrogant ass! "I've lived here for three winters and I've survived them all." She crossed her arms over her chest and tried to ignore the pain that the simple movement caused her. "Besides, are you sober enough to drive?" Okay, it was a cheap shot and she knew it.

  
He just rolled his eyes at her. "How about you let me drive because you are obviously sick?"

  
How the hell did he know that? Her confusion must have shown on her face because he laughed. "You were shivering in the airport even though it was a million degrees in there, you're paler than normal, and you flinched more than once on the walk out here." He ticked off all that he had noticed in the brief twenty minutes that they had spent together. "Plus, I was your man for two years, I know when you're not feeling good, sweets."

  
He had always been so good at taking care of her when she was sick and they were still together. He was the kind of boyfriend to wait on her hand and foot while she was ill...before the addiction had taken over...then he stopped caring about anything...himself, her. Shaking her head to clear it, she threw him the keys but he didn't get in the driver's side of the Impala. He walked around and opened the passenger side door for her and helped her inside. Noticing the _Ninja Turtles_ fleece throw blanket in the backseat that she kept back there for the cold mornings when she had to drive her five-year-old nephew to school, he reached over her and grabbed it and spread it out over her upper half. When he got in the driver's seat, he started the car and made sure the heat was on full blast before he pulled out of the lot. Before they pulled out onto the Mass Turnpike, he stopped at a _McDonald's_ and without even asking ordered her a peppermint hot chocolate...her favorite drink when she was sick.

  
"Thanks, hon." She smiled at him not even realizing the old term of endearment that slipped from her lips as she accepted the cup.

  
He was sipping on his cup of coffee as they sat waiting in what seemed like an endless line of traffic to enter the Mass Turnpike and he started to make chit-chat. "How have you been?" He asked her. "Since...everything,"

  
She took a sip out of her cup before she responded. "I've been okay." She nodded. "Harper and I started our own daycare up here and being around our brother and his family is great. How have you been?"

  
"Okay." He set his cup in the drink holder as traffic started to move a little bit before abruptly stopping again. "I'm up here to interview for a job as the district manager of _Price Chopper_ in Berkshire County."

  
He would be moving up north if he got the job and she was surprised to find that the thought of it didn't bother her. "That's awesome...Harper told me you're sober," she said delicately...she didn't want to make him mad. His temper could be fierce.

  
"Yeah." He turned to look at her seeing as traffic was at a standstill and the snow was only getting heavier. "Going on three years now...I've missed you, sweets."

  
"I've missed you too." She wasn't going to lie to a man who already knew everything there was to know about her. He would see through her quicker than Superman. "I've got some bad news..."

  
She was suddenly more alert. "What's wrong?"

  
"There is no way we're going to make it out of town before the storm hits, it's already getting bad out there."

  
She couldn't deny that he was right. She could barely make out the cars in front of them through the wall of white.

  
They found a reasonably priced hotel in the city and settled in to wait out the storm. She had called Harper and after threatening her life a few times for not telling her that Ajax was coming, had informed her that she wouldn't be making it back in time for her morning shift at the daycare. Harper had been fine with this seeing as the storm was headed right for Williamstown and she had already called the parents of their charges and told them the center would be closed the next day due to bad weather. After that Elizabeth had decided to shower to warm up. She had just gotten out of the shower and made her way back into the bedroom of the hotel room. Seeing as she didn't have anything to change into, she was still wearing her skinny jeans and sweater. Ajax was laying in bed with his shoes off wearing baggy jeans and a t-shirt. When he saw her he shook his head and laughed before pulling his Eminem tour t-shirt over his head and tossing it to her. "Put that on to sleep in, sweets," he told her standing up and pulling the covers on the king size bed back. All double rooms had been booked so they were sharing a bed. She hesitated for a moment. It seemed awfully intimate to sleep in her ex's clothes. When he noticed her hesitation he rolled his eyes at her. "It's not like you've never slept in my clothes before...you used to steal my shirts all the damn time," he pointed out. "And it's not like you have anything I haven't seen before and very much wish to see again at some point. You're sick, I want you to be comfortable."

  
Ignoring the part of that comment that set her heart beating faster than the drummer in a heavy metal band she went back into the bathroom to change. When she emerged again, she found Ajax rummaging in his duffel bag while holding a can of ginger ale in his hand...he must have made a trip to the vending machine while she was in the shower. She climbed into the side of the bed where Ajax had pulled down the blankets for her and waited to see what he was doing. Finally, he stood holding a small bottle of ibuprofen in his hand. He walked to her side of the bed and took a seat beside her. "Hold out your hand," he instructed.

  
She did as she was told and he shook a few pills out into her hand before setting the bottle on the nightstand and popping the top on the ginger ale before handing it to her. She took the pills and swallowed them down with a sip of the fizzy drink before settling back on the pillows. "Why are you being so nice to me?" She asked softly. He was making her wish for a time long past. A time when they were together and happy and he was healthy.

  
He reached out a hand and caressed her cheek. "Because I love you. Because I've done you very wrong and I'm trying to make up for it." There was nothing but truth in his grey-blue eyes and Elizabeth found herself choking up. "Because I'm worried about you."

  
"Why are you worried about me?" She didn't want to touch on the love situation just yet.

  
"Why haven't you been tested?" He countered. "You're showing classic symptoms and you have the butterfly rash." He traced the light red rash covering her cheeks with his fingertips.

  
"Because I'm scared...look what happened to my mom." She let a few tears fall. She had known for a while what was wrong with her but she didn't want to have to hear a doctor confirm it.

  
"A lot has changed," he shook his head. "Treatments are different and more successful than they were in the nineties, sweets. You can't just pretend you don't have it. You have lupus, Elizabeth."

  
"I don't want to become a burden to Harper or Gabe," she argued. They were the only real family she had. "What if I get as bad as my mom at the end?" Her mother had been unable to walk, talk, or even eat on her own at the end of her life.

  
"Then I'll be there to love and take care of you," he said resolutely.

"What," she whispered not believing what he was saying.

  
"I'm back now. I'm healthy. I still love you more than life. I'm stepping up and taking care of my girl...just like I always should have." He leaned forward and gently kissed her. "Do you have a problem with that?"

  
Surprisingly, she really didn't.

*********

  
They didn't make it to Williamstown until three days later. Elizabeth took those days to recover her strength. They both took those days to reconnect with each other. Ajax had ended up missing his job interview but her older brother stepped in with another offer. Her brother, Gabe, owned a local towing service, and they did killer business in the winter, and he was in need of a shop manager. Ajax took the job.

  
It was two weeks after Ajax had arrived in town and Elizabeth found herself seated on a cold exam table at her doctor's office awaiting news that she really didn't want. When the doctor finally came in and confirmed that she had tested positive for lupus she had broken down...but Ajax had been right beside her to hold her as she cried. Once she started treatment she felt a lot better, she still had her bad days and at times her REALLY bad days but she was able to live a somewhat normal life. That life once again included Ajax, who lived with her in her small little cottage house. He was once again the man that he had been prior to his descent into addiction. Every morning before work he made Elizabeth a cup of coffee and laid it on the nightstand along with her morning pills knowing that she wouldn't wake for work until fifteen minutes after he left. His routine never wavered until one day a year after they had gotten back together...

  
Another nor'easter was in the process of blowing through the area and neither she nor Ajax would be going into work. That is why she was surprised when she awoke to the sound of Ajax getting out of bed and leaving the room. He did not get up early unless he had to and it wasn't even five in the morning. Figuring her boyfriend was just restless she rolled over and went back to sleep. When she awoke a few hours later. Her coffee and her meds were waiting for her. As she took her pills and washed them down with coffee that was more milk and sugar than coffee, just the way she liked it, she noticed something else sitting on her nightstand. It was a gold ring with a heart shaped centerpiece. One-half of the heart was made up of tiny rubies. The other half consisted of tiny emeralds. Ruby and emerald...her and Ajax's birthstones. It had been the engagement ring that Ajax had given her years earlier. She couldn't believe he had kept it.

  
"I was thinking we should try the whole marriage thing again." She jumped and looked to find a smirking Ajax learning against the bedroom doorframe.

  
"Are you serious?" She asked picking up the familiar ring.

  
He walked to her and sat beside her on the bed. "As a heart attack." He kissed her. "So, will you marry me, Elizabeth?"

  
She huffed playfully. "Fine! But this time, I better actually get a wedding, buster!"

  
"Done." He slid the ring on her finger and pushed her back on the bed to devour her mouth with his own.

  
In the course of a year, Elizabeth learned that the mistakes of the past do not have to define our future and that even when the wolf was knocking at the door having someone who loved you went a long way towards keeping you safe.

  
_**FINIS** _


	4. Space Bound

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own the song 'Space Bound' by Eminem. I am just borrowing it for this story. 

Good God, why did her sisters have to be so damn annoying? Elizabeth thought to herself as she watched Jessa do Harper's hair in the bathroom connected to her bedroom. She was doing this as they both criticized her wardrobe and make-up.

The three of them were going to a concert that night. It was some local rapper that had made it big...not that Elizabeth cared. She was only going because Harper had won free tickets at work. She worked at a Wing Zone restaurant and had apparently sold the most hot wings on Super Bowl Sunday. Elizabeth couldn't understand why they wanted her to go. She had no idea who A.G Tripp was and had never heard his music. She had become stuck in her ways and stopped listening to new music right around 2013. Plus, Harper was always hypercritical of her looks and Jessa had hated her pretty much from the day she was born...she had no idea why, jealousy maybe?

"Why couldn't ya'll have dragged someone else? I really don't want to go," She was whining now, she would admit it. "I have to be at work at seven,"

She worked at a local BI-LO grocery store full-time. She was nineteen and trying to save up enough money for college. Her college fund had been depleted during her mother's eight-year battle with lupus. Her family had gone bankrupt trying to keep up with the medical bills and her father's answer was to work on cars under the table and live off of the government. When her mother had died, he had dipped into both her and Harper's college funds. They're mother would never have allowed that to happen had she been alive.

If Elizabeth and eighteen-year-old Harper wanted to get the hell out of the Beattie's Ford Road area of Charlotte, North Carolina, they were going to have to do it all on their own. That's why they both worked full-time...and overtime whenever they could get it.

Jessa, who was eleven years older than Elizabeth, was a female version of their father. She depended on the government to support her and her ten-year-old daughter, Thea while she babysat under the table and collected child support from her deadbeat ex-husband.

The girls had three brothers scattered across the country but they had cut off contact with the family years ago...well, most of the family. Elizabeth still spoke to them. The boys seemed to think that she was the sanest of the southern branch of the Windsor family.

"Are you sure you want to wear that, Liz?" Harper asked as Jessa sprayed hairspray in her hair to keep the ringlet curls that she had just completed in place.

Elizabeth looked down at what she was wearing. Short cut-off jean shorts, and a fitted green plaid button-down shirt. She wore black cowboy boots on her feet and black feather earrings in her ears. Her make-up consisted of black eyeliner, a little blush, and clear lip gloss. Her Irish heritage was very evident in her extremely pale skin and if she wore too much makeup she looked like a circus clown. She had left her naturally straight hair down. It was thin so no matter how she put it up or what hair care products she used it was always a mess within an hour or two and she would have to take it down anyway.

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" She asked almost coughing from the hairspray fumes that were overtaking the small bathroom.

Jessa gave her that fake-friendly smile that let Elizabeth know that she was about to go for the jugular.

"You look like you're going to a honkytonk...to turn tricks,"

God, she fucking hated Jessa. Slut-shaming her was her favorite hobby. It was right above spreading rumors that she was anorexic. Both Jessa and Harper were on the heavier side of the scale and once upon a time Elizabeth had been too. In her teens, she had weighed over two hundred pounds...and she was only 5'0. No matter what she did to lose the weight, nothing worked. She tried every diet her mother would allow and exercised every day but still the weight remained. She was miserable and terribly depressed. She had no friends because, really, what teenager wanted to be friends with the fat girl? And she certainly had no dates. The only boy that paid any attention to her was the son of her mother's best friend, Rachel. He was ten years older and she had met him for the first time when she was thirteen. Their mothers were both strict Catholics (an oddity in the south) who made their children do a few hours of volunteer work at the church every week. Elizabeth had met Aaron when they both volunteered or were volunteered, for the summer in the church food bank and soup kitchen. Elizabeth didn't know it at first but Aaron was only volunteering there as part of a plea deal. Aaron had a problem with pills and had been arrested for driving under the influence. Aaron didn't confide anything in the teenager at first. He was just one of the only volunteers that were nice to her. Everyone knew that she came from a poor family and that her father was a low life. That added up with her appearance made the other teenagers and young adults either make fun of her or just ignore her altogether. Aaron wasn't like them. He would shut down bullying the minute it started. He would also talk to her. Not about anything important. How was your weekend? I heard you were sick, are you feelin' better? Here, let me get that for you. Those types of things...but those things meant the world to Elizabeth who wasn't used to kindness, at home or from the outside world. His kindness didn't stop at church either. When her mother was sick he would offer to help, him and his five brothers and sisters. They would take turns doing errands, giving Elizabeth and Harper rides to the hospital to visit with their mom, helping with homework, doing yard work. Those types of things. This went on for years. Aaron would occasionally disappear for a few days, weeks, or months at a time...usually because of arrests or trips to rehab but he was still the only constant thing in her life. Elizabeth knew that Aaron had massive problems but that didn't stop him from being a really good guy...and he was incredibly good looking.

He was tall and stalwart. He had cornrows in his hair and hazel eyes hidden behind rimless glasses. She started noticing his looks right around her fifteenth birthday after the hormones of puberty had finally started to ease up and she had accepted the fact that she was not going to grow up and marry David Tennant. She kept her feelings to herself for three reasons. One, her father was a racist who only put up with Aaron and his family for the free help and to keep her mother happy. She would have never been allowed to date a black guy. Two, there was no way that Aaron, ten years her senior would return her feelings...and, you know, it was illegal. Three, Aaron could never be attracted to her. He looked like he should be on the cover of G.Q., she was the girl always chosen last in gym class because she was fat and slow. She had dirty-blonde hair and generic brown eyes. She was no beauty queen.

It was also when she was fifteen that the mystery of her weight was finally solved...in a terrifying way.

It was Christmas time and Aaron and his brother Seth were outside putting the Christmas lights up on the Windsor house...because Lord knew her father wasn't going to do it. It was freezing that day. A rare snowstorm had hit Charlotte and there was six feet of snow on the ground. Seth was on the roof putting up an inflatable Santa and Aaron was on a ladder putting lights around the frames of the second-story windows.

Elizabeth was on the ground feeding him the string of lights when suddenly a sharp pain ripped through her side and she collapsed into the snow. The world started spinning and the last thing she remembered was seeing Aaron's face hovering above her as he called her name and smelling the musky scent of his favorite aftershave. After that, the whole world went dark. She awoke in the hospital to the news that the pain had been caused by her appendix rupturing and while they were performing emergency surgery, they discovered that her intestines were enlarged. She had Crohn's Disease. Once she started treatment and was put on the correct diet the weight started to fall off. Within a year she had gone from 210 lbs. to 135 lbs. She would always be curvy, but she was no longer obese. She started dressing as sexy as her mother would allow...and she discovered that for the first time, boys were looking but she was too shy to approach any of them and when they approached her she was beyond awkward. Besides, she dressed the way that she did for herself, not for a guy.

The last time she had seen Aaron was at her mother's funeral when she was sixteen. She had broken down in hysterics during the service and Aaron had pulled her outside to catch herself. He had handed her a Valium that for some reason he had in his suit pocket and she wasn't ashamed to admit that she took it.

He had walked her back inside to her seat and then rejoined his family that her asshole father had seated in the very back of the church like the church was a bus and it was the 1960's. He had been a pallbearer and carried her mother's coffin from the church and to the hearse that was going to carry it to its cremation.

He didn't show at the reception afterward and Elizabeth never saw him again. Her father had made her and Harper cut off contact with Aaron and the rest of the Granger family. When she was seventeen she had run into Aaron's younger sister Jayde in a restaurant. Jayde had informed her that her brother had finally found sobriety. That was the last time she had any kind of contact with any member of the Granger family.

"Alright, Jess, that was over the line," Harper actually stood up for her for once and pulled Elizabeth from her thoughts. "Your outfit is fine, hon, but you need a little more makeup and your hair did,"

Why did her sister have to talk with that unnatural exaggerated southern accent and with a purposeful lack of grammar? Harper had a 4.0 GPA, she knew how to speak proper English, she just chose not to.

"I don't care what ya'll think, can we please just fucking go?" She huffed.

As they arrived at the Bojangles Coliseum Elizabeth looked up at the big screen over the door advertising that night's show. When she saw a promotional photograph of A.G. Tripp she almost stopped breathing.

What the actual fuck? That was a photo of Aaron. He was just missing his cornrows, his hair now kept short and neat, and that glossed over look in his eye that said he was on something.

They handed their tickets to the guy at the door to scan and she turned to Harper. "Is A.G. Tripp who I think he is?"

Harper and Jessa laughed.

"Your not so secret teenage crush? Yes," Jessa nodded smugly.

She got it now. She had been invited along for the sole purpose of being hurt by a reminder of the past. Fuck them both!

Elizabeth wasn't really a fan of rap music. She was a country girl through and through but she had to admit that Aaron was good. Their seats turned out to be in the front row but with all the bright lights and screaming fans, she doubted he noticed them.

She was proven wrong not ten minutes after having that thought. Aaron was about to perform his final song of the night and was addressing the crowd.

"Yo, I want to dedicate this song to my boo Lizzie-Beth in the front row." He used his old nickname for her and turned and looked directly at her. "She's been my lady for a while now but this is the first chance I've had to educate her on that fact. Looks like fate's on my side, tonight. This is for you, baby," He nodded at her.

As the music started he kept eye contact with her.

_"We touch I feel a rush_

_We clutch it isn't much_

_But it's enough to make me wonder what's in store for us_

_It's lust, it's torturous_

_You must be a sorceress 'cause you just_

_Did the impossible_

_Gained my trust don't play games it'll be dangerous_

_If you fuck me over_

_'Cause if I get burnt I'ma show you what it's like to hurt_

_'Cause I've been treated like dirt before you_

_And love is "evol"_

_Spell it backwards I'll show you_

_Nobody knows me I'm cold_

_Walk down this road all alone_

_It's no one's fault but my own_

_It's the path I've chosen to go_

_Frozen as snow I show no emotion whatsoever so_

_Don't ask me why I have no love for these motherfucking ho's_

_Bloodsucking succubuses, what the fuck is up with this?_

_I've tried in this department but I ain't had no luck with this_

_It sucks but it's exactly what I thought it would be_

_Like trying to start over_

_I got a hole in my heart, but some kind of emotional roller coaster_

_Something I won't go on 'til you toy with my emotions, so it's over_

_It's like an explosion every time I hold you, I wasn't joking when I told you_

_You take my breath away_

_You're a supernova...”_

As the song ended he winked at her and pointed towards a security guard that was standing off to the side of the stage before leaving the stage himself. She grabbed her purse and walked to the bodyguard who slipped an all-access pass over her head and motioned for her to follow him.

"You've gotta be fucking kiddin' me!" She heard Jessa say as she was lead away.

Her heart was beating as fast as a cheetah going for the kill. What the fuck had just happened? And what the hell was going on now?

The burly security guard finally stopped in front of a closed door that was hidden down a back hallway.

He knocked.

"Yeah?" She heard Aaron's deep, southern accent laced voice.

"Your guest is here, sir,"

"Let her in, dude,"

The guard opened the door and nodded for her to enter while he stayed in the hallway.

Entering, Elizabeth found that it was a dressing room...and its only occupant was Aaron, sitting on a couch in a pair of Tar Heel's basketball shorts and a white wifebeater. Damn, he changed out of his stage clothes quick.

"You can go, Bobby," Aaron told the guard. "I don't want nobody comin' in here unless the world is endin' until after Jungle Boy finishes his set. And make sure my ride's waitin' outside."

Bobby nodded before closing the door.

Elizabeth shuffled her feet. She had no idea what to say or do. Should she hug him? Should she say, "Sorry my father's a raging racist and I cut off all contact with you before because you were my only friend"?

"Breath, boo," Aaron laughed and stood. "I ain't gonna bite you,"

Elizabeth gathered control of herself. "Sorry," She laughed awkwardly. "It's just been a really long time...and I wasn't expecting THAT,"

He laughed. "You didn't like it, baby girl?"

She blushed. "It was...nice," She couldn't think of anything better to say than nice? That was the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for her in her life. "But Harper and Jessa are never going to let me live it down,"

They were going to be taking the piss out of her about this for the rest of her life.

He stepped closer until he was only half a foot away from her. "Is it cool to hug you?"

She nodded.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and she stiffly wrapped hers around his neck.

As he hugged her statue still body, he chuckled in her ear. "Baby, please relax," He laid a kiss on the shell of her ear causing a shiver to run down her spine before he stepped away. He had a smirk on his face and seemed to be admiring his handy work.

She was breathing a little roughly when she blurted out, "Why did you sing...or rap...or whatever that song to me?"

"Because it's about you," He replied bluntly with a shrug of his shoulders.

"What the fuck?"

Not the most ladylike of responses but she felt as though there should be creepy music playing in the background and an even creepier voice saying, "You've just crossed over into the Twilight Zone."

"I wrote it about you," He said slowly as if she were, well...slow.

"Why?" Her knees were starting to feel a little wobbly.

He must have noticed because he reached out and took her hand and led her to sit on the couch. He sat beside her, so close that their knees were touching and she could smell his familiar, comforting aftershave. Had he showered before he changed? He shouldn't smell this good after spending two hours sweating on stage.

"Because I love you, baby girl," His baritone voice was soft now. "I have, appropriately or not, since you were fifteen...though I never would have acted on it back then,"

"But I was fat when I was fifteen," What the hell was with her and blurting shit out tonight?

"You were still beautiful," He didn't deny that she had been big, she noticed. "Inside and out. You were probably the only person back then who didn't judge me for the pill poppin'. You just saw me and treated me like a person instead of a punk." He looked her up and down. "And shit, boo, if you were beautiful then, you're a fuckin' goddess now. Seriously, you're fine as hell,"

She felt like her face was on fire and she looked away.

"You at least like me," He teased gently. "You used to turn red anytime I talked to you when you were younger...kinda like you are right now,"

"Okay, I like you," She actually knew that it was more than that but her brain and her heart didn't want to go there at the moment.

He reached out a hand and turned her face to look at him. He had a warm smile on his face as he started slowly leaning towards her.

"I've missed you," He whispered before he sealed their lips together.

His hand was cupping the back of her neck and she was leaning forward with her hands on his knees as his tongue explored her mouth. She wondered if he knew that she had no clue what she was doing. That she was a pathetic excuse for a millennial female and had never been kissed before. She was just doing what felt natural and what felt good.

After a couple of minutes, Aaron pulled away. "Wanna come back to my place, baby girl?" He kissed along her jaw.

"Yes," His touch and kisses were making her lose all common sense.

***

She was already regretting her rash decision as he took her hand and led her through the building and out a back door where a white Cadillac Escalade was parked on the curb. As he held open the passenger side door for her, she hesitated to get in.

"Aaron, I really don't think this is such a good idea," She shook her head. "I have work in the morning," Not to mention her father was already going to be giving her an earful about her going backstage alone...because Harper and Jessa were sure to tell him the second they got home. They were both rats and got a kick out of getting her in trouble.

He pulled her into his arms and laid a kiss on her nose. "Play hooky,"

She had never called out of work before unless she felt like she was on her death bed. She needed the money too much. On top of saving for school, she was paying her father five hundred dollars a month in rent...and handing over money every other time he demanded it, which was almost daily.

"Please, baby girl, be irresponsible for one night...I promise it will be worth it," He kissed her softly. "I'm supposed to be at an after-party right now but I'm blowin' it off to be with you. You're worth it to me. Am I worth missin' one day of work for?"

Her heart was a puddle in her chest as he said this and for once she did what she wanted to do...not what she was supposed to do...she got in the Escalade.

They had only made it about a half-mile down Independence Boulevard when her cell phone went off in her purse. She knew it probably wasn't anyone she wanted to talk to. Digging the smartphone out of her purse, she found a text message from her father.

_***If you do anything with that boy, don't bother coming home***_

Tears pooled in her eyes.

Aaron noticed and pulled over into an empty parking lot and put the SUV in park.

"What's wrong, baby girl?" He asked her in concern.

She just handed him her phone so he could read for himself.

"That mother fucker," He growled under his breath.

He took the phone and threw it back in her open purse that sat on her lap.

"Fuck him," He turned to look at her. "I'm not taking you home because that asshole said so,"

"I live with him, I have to. If he kicks me out, I'm fucked. I work as a cashier at a BI-LO...I can't afford a place of my own," She explained. She hated her fucking life. She must have royally pissed off God at some point.

Aaron bit his bottom lip and eyed her for a moment before replying. "Then move in with me,"

He was completely serious. Where was Ashton Kutcher and the Punk'd camera crew?

"Are you insane?" She asked him in disbelief. "We haven't seen each other in like three years and I'm not even one hundred percent sure what is going on between us,"

"I love you and I wanna take care of you," He told her earnestly. "I wanna be with you, baby,"

"What so everyone can think of me as the rapper's ghetto golddigger girlfriend? So I can be a cliché? I don't trust anyone but myself to take care of me," She shook her head. She couldn't become like her mother. She couldn't rely on a man and get trapped with six kids and no hope of escape.

He reached over and took her hand. "I'm not just anyone, boo, and you know it. And ain't no one gonna think you're a golddigger. They're gonna think that you're my fine ass lady that I'm putting through school so you can be the independent woman that you are so boss at being. They are gonna think that I love you and you make me happy. I was your only friend once. You trusted me when no one else, not even my own fuckin' family, did. Trust me now, baby girl,"

Tears started to run down her cheeks. "How did you know that I'm trying to go to school?" She asked.

"I Facebook stalk you from time to time," He shrugged and admitted without an ounce of shame.

She laughed and decided that she was going to be brave, something she rarely ever was. It was time she admitted the truth...to herself and to him.

"What would you say if I told you that I've loved you since I was fifteen and woke up in the hospital to find you sleeping next to my bed?" She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.

He laughed and ran a hand over his head. "I'd say it was fuckin' fate because I realized how I felt about you when I was waiting for the ambulance to take you to that hospital. I realized I was in love with a teenage girl and for a hot minute thought you were gonna die in front of me...once I knew that you were gonna to be okay I went on a week-long bender. I just couldn't fuckin' deal with how I felt," He squeezed her hand gently. "Does this mean you're comin' home with me, baby girl?"

She took a deep breath. "Yeah, I am...although getting my things out of my dad's place is going to be one hell of an adventure."

He leaned across the seat and kissed her. "I'll be with you every step of the way, Lizzie-Beth," That nickname always gave her butterflies when she was younger and nothing much had changed.

"You know you're still technically in love with a teenager even though I'm legal right?" She teased as a way to break the seriousness of the moment as Aaron once again pulled out onto the road.

"You're gonna get it, you little brat," He warned her playfully with a devilish look in his eye.

Aaron lived in a seven-bedroom mansion in a gated community in the South Park area of Charlotte.

Everything in the area – the stores, the post office, even the gas stations was so clean and tidy. Elizabeth felt like she didn't belong. Aaron's dad was a doctor and his mom a college professor at Central Piedmont Community College. He was used to these kind of surroundings...she wasn't. She wondered how she would fit in.

They had to pass a second security gate to enter Aaron's property and he parked the Escalade in a six-car garage where every space held a car...each more expensive than the next. Why the hell did one person need six cars? She still drove her first car, a 1996 Ford Taurus that was so beat up that she had to start it with a screwdriver and carry a gallon of water in the trunk in case it overheated.

He got out and walked around to help her out of the car before he pulled her into his arms for a kiss.

"Welcome home, boo," He said when he pulled away and rested his forehead against hers.

"This is still crazy," Elizabeth giggled. "I'm sure a shrink could have a field day with us."

Aaron laughed and led her through the garage door and into the house. They didn't stop until they were upstairs and in the master bedroom suite. She was just starting to get nervous again as she sat on the edge of the California king size bed. Her phone going off again made those nerves even worse.

She again pulled it from her purse. Her father was calling. Taking a deep breath, she answered the phone. "Hey, dad,"

"Where the hell are you Elizabeth Ann?" He demanded.

"With Aaron," She replied tersely. She was pretending to be a lot braver than she actually was.

"Get your ass home right now," She could hear the anger in his voice.

"No," Her voice was shaky now.

"Excuse me? Who do you think you're talking to young lady?!" He started yelling. "You come home now or you don't come home at all."

Aaron took the phone out of her hand as her whole body started shaking. She had always been terrified of her father's temper. "Mr. Windsor, I'm gonna ask you never to speak to my girlfriend like that again, I don't care if she is your daughter. And she is home. She'll be by tomorrow to pick up her things," Aaron was calm as he spoke to her father.

She couldn't tell what her father was saying but she could hear that he was still yelling.

"Then we will come by with the cops," Aaron's voice was still calm but there was now an angry glint in his eyes. "You can't legally keep her from getting her stuff.

She knew getting away from her father wasn't going to be easy but she had never expected to have to involve the authorities.

"I'm not going to argue with you, Mr. Windsor, you have a good night," He hung up the phone and shut it off this time.

Her anxiety was gone and so was any of the desire she had felt earlier. All she felt was a crushing sadness.

Why did her father have to be this way? And why did her mother have to be gone? She wouldn't have allowed her father to act this way. Why couldn't she have a family that gave a shit about her?

She buried her face in her hands and began to weep.

Aaron sat beside her on the bed and pulled her into his arms.

"It's alright, baby girl, after tomorrow you never have to see that man or anyone in your family ever the fuck again if you don't want to," He rubbed her back.

"Yeah, and then I won't have a family," She sobbed. While her family sucked it was the only one she had.

"What am I, princess, your co-worker?" He chuckled a little and kissed the top of her head. "I'm your family now baby...and have you forgotten that I have a mama, daddy, and brothers and sisters who adore you? Yes, you're losin' your birth family but you're gainin' another one, a healthier one,"

Taking a deep breath, she finally sat up straight.

"Promise me everything will be okay?" Her voice sounded so weak and she hated it. She didn't want Aaron to know how fragile she really was inside. She had spent years hiding her insecurities. It was the only way to survive in her family. The moment she showed any sign of weakness her father and sisters would pounce.

"I promise, baby," He pulled her into a kiss.

When he pulled away, she cast her eyes to the ground. "Aaron, I don't think I can...do...anything tonight," She blushed.

He ran a hand through her hair. "That's cool, we've got forever, boo,"

He stood and walked to the dresser. He opened the top drawer and pulled out a Carolina Panthers football jersey and tossed it to her.

"Since you don't have any clothes here yet, you can sleep in that," He told her as he pulled his t-shirt over his head.

She averted her eyes from his well-defined tattooed chest as she made her way into the bathroom to change. Since Aaron was over six feet tall the jersey fit her like a dress. She used the fold-up brush in her purse to fix her hair. She took her nightly medication and made her way back into the bedroom.

Aaron had lit the fireplace that was in the room, even though it was April, and was lying in bed in nothing but a pair of black boxer shorts. He had removed his glasses and had an arm thrown over his face.

Elizabeth slowly walked to the bed and climbed in beside him. He held out his arm to her and she cuddled up to his chest. It was warm in the bedroom with the fireplace going and Aaron had the windows open so they didn't feel any need to get under the covers.

As she closed her eyes she felt him kiss the top of her head. "I love you, Elizabeth," He whispered.

"I love you, too,"

***

The next morning had been a train wreck and that was putting it mildly. They had awoken at ten and made the fifteen-minute drive to her father's house. They had called the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department and a couple of officers met them at the house. The presence of the police did not detour her father or her sisters from causing trouble. When she and Aaron entered the house with one of the officers she found that her room had been trashed and she knew that it was the work of Harper and Jessa. She quickly gathered up everything that she would be taking, which was only clothes and personal items. The furniture was staying. The entire time listening to insults being hurled at her by her sisters while her father just stood there with his arms crossed over his chest glaring at her.

They loaded everything up in Aaron's Escalade and as they closed the trunk and were about to get into the SUV to leave, her father called to her from the front porch. "If you leave with that nigger, don't you ever fucking come back. I wash my hands of you,"

As she climbed into the passenger seat and buckled her seatbelt she reached a hand out the window and gave her father a one-fingered wave goodbye.

Later that night after they had finished putting all of her things away and had finished the pizza they had ordered for dinner they found themselves cuddled up on one of the white lounge chairs that sat beside the saltwater pool in the backyard.

Elizabeth was lying on Aaron's chest as he ran his fingers through her hair.

"You sure you're really okay?" Aaron asked for what seemed like the millionth time since they had gotten back from her father's house.

"Yeah, I really am," She picked her head up to place a kiss on his chin.

It was the truth. Seeing the mess her sisters had made of her room and hearing the last words her father had spoken to her were the final nail in the coffin of her relationship with her family. She wasn't losing anything except a lot of drama, hate, and manipulation.

He caught her chin in his hand and kissed her. For the first time since the previous night, he slipped his tongue into her mouth. As he ran his tongue along the roof of her mouth, she moaned.

When he pulled away she couldn't believe the words that came out of her mouth. "I want you," When the hell had she gotten that bold?

He smirked and pushed her to stand up. She thought that he was going to take them inside. Instead, he stood and adjusted the lounge chair until it was lying flat and held out his hand to her. She took it and he pulled her to stand in front of him. He pulled his blue t-shirt over his head and let it fall to the ground.

Elizabeth took a look around. The nearest house was half a block away and the backyard was surrounded by an eight-foot-high wooden privacy fence. No one was going to see them unless they flew overhead in a helicopter. Aaron used his hand to turn her face back to his before reaching for the bottom of the baggy t-shirt she wore. He gave her a quick peck on the lips before pulling it over her head. She had to remind herself that she wasn't overweight anymore. It took every bit of strength inside of her not to cover herself with her arms. She wasn't wearing a bra so her chest was bare before Aaron's eyes. Judging from the heat in his eyes and how quickly he dipped his head to taste one nipple and then the other, he liked what he saw.

Aaron picked her up and laid her on the lounge chair, making sure the pillow was behind her head and began laying soft, wet kisses from her neck all the way down to her stomach. When he moved to lay between her spread thighs he grabbed the waist of her yoga pants with both hands and silently asked her permission the remove them. She bit her lip and nodded her head shyly. He pulled them off, taking her thong along with them and threw them over his shoulder. She was pretty sure they ended up in the pool but she didn't care. The next thing she knew she felt his hot breath on her moist center. Her hips arched of their own accord and Aaron chuckled and gently pushed them back down before leaning forward to taste her. He took his time licking, sucking, teasing, before finally getting to his feet and taking off his glasses, which were fogged up from his activities. He kicked out of his basketball shorts and boxers and settled himself between her legs.

He rubbed his length up and down her opening as he kissed her neck. "Are you on anything, boo, or do I need to go get a condom?" He asked huskily. "I've been tested so you're safe,"

"I'm on the birth control shot," She threw her head back as he suckled at the valley between her breasts. She had been on the shot since she was fourteen to regulate her menstrual cycle.

Without warning, he thrust his impressive manhood inside of her.

"Ow, fuck!" Elizabeth hissed and dug her fingernails into his shoulders so hard that she knew he was going to have marks later.

Aaron's eyes widened and he quickly stilled his movements completely.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me you were a virgin, Lizzy-Beth?" He asked softly as he kissed away the tear that had escaped.

"Because I was scared you wouldn't want me if you knew," She admitted. She just hadn't expected it to hurt that badly but the pain was quickly fading and a new feeling altogether was taking over.

He rained kisses all over her face. "I'll always want you, baby girl. I wish you would have told me. I wouldn't have been so rough. I'm so fuckin' sorry baby,"

"Don't be sorry," She shook her head and moaned as she ran her hands up his arms to encircle his neck. The pain was almost completely gone and she was left with a feeling of being completely full and she felt a burning need for him to move. She rocked her hips a little to create the friction she needed.

"I'm okay, now," She assured him leaning up to kiss his shoulder.

He started out slow to give her time to get used to his size and the feeling of having a man inside of her for the first time. It wasn't long before she was begging him to go faster, harder. When they both tumbled over the edge it was at the same time and with each other's names on their lips.

As they lay curled up in each other's arms on the lounge chair recovering, Elizabeth traced the tattoo of the Tauris astrological sign that was right above his heart. "Why do you have this one? Your birthday is in July." She asked. She had been curious since she had first seen it the night before.

He tightened his arms around her but didn't open his eyes. "Because your birthday is May third,"

She smiled and placed a kiss on his chest...right above the tattoo.

Over the next eight months, Elizabeth's life had changed drastically...and for the better. She had quit her job at BI-LO and Aaron's mom Rachel had helped her to enroll in a virtual learning course offered by Central Piedmont Community College. Aaron had requested but not demanded, that she take online classes so she could travel with him when he toured. Elizabeth had readily agreed. She was now studying to get an Associate's Degree in creative writing. Once that was completed she was going to enroll in a private college to get her Bachelor's. She had always dreamed of being a children's writer. For her twentieth birthday, he had taken her on a two-week vacation to Hawaii. To a girl who had never been further than Oklahoma, it was a dream vacation. The first week had been spent alone just enjoying the islands and each other. The second week the rest of his family had flown out. They had all had a blast and were all a little bummed out when it was time to return to the mainland. That summer Aaron went back on tour and they spent most of their time on the road. They only really saw each other when the tour bus was rolling from one city to another or at night when they cuddled up in bed to sleep or make love. Aaron was always working and Elizabeth was focused on her studies. Elizabeth quickly learned that her boyfriend's life was a hectic one. They didn't even make it home for Thanksgiving. They spent it at the Ritz Hotel in Paris.

It was now December 24th and everyone was gathered at Aaron's parents' home for Christmas dinner.

It was as they were all gathered at the long dining room table gorging themselves on Rachel's amazing cooking that Aaron shocked her by giving her a gift that she in no way expected.

He cleared his throat and got to his feet just as everyone was digging into their pumpkin pie. "Y'all, I have something that I wanna ask Elizabeth and I wanna do it while we're surrounded by our family," He made sure to stress the word, "our".

Rachel's eyes filled with tears as she reached over and grabbed Aaron's father's hand. His father, Pete was looking on with a proud smile on his face.

Pulling his chair away from the table to give himself room, Aaron dropped to one knee beside Elizabeth.

She covered her mouth with her hand. She couldn't believe this was happening.

He took her hand in his own.

"Elizabeth Ann Windsor, I love you more than my own life. The past almost nine months have been the happiest of my life. You are my best friend, my partner in crime, my ride or die chick...and I want you to keep being those things for the rest of my life...so, will you marry me?" He produced a ring box from his pocket and opened it to reveal a simple, square-cut diamond set in a white gold band. It wasn't big and eye-catching. It didn't cost more than it took to feed a small country. He knew she wasn't the type of girl to want something like that...he knew her.

She was too choked up to speak so she simply nodded her head and held out her hand so he could slip the ring on her finger. Once he did he placed a kiss on her knuckles and pulled her to her feet. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her rather chastely given their audience.

"I love you, baby girl," He kissed her forehead when he pulled away.

"I love you, too"

At that moment, Aaron's sixteen-year-old little brother Charlie tapped her on the shoulder.

She turned around and he leaned in to mock whisper, "If he's blackmailing you into this just blink twice and we'll run,"

Aaron's sister Morgan smacked him upside the head.

***

**Ten Years Later**

Elizabeth looked out around the sea of family that was gathered in her backyard for a barbecue to celebrate Aaron's fortieth birthday and sent a silent prayer of thanks to God. She didn't know why He had gifted her the life that she had but she would be forever grateful. She could have ended up just another girl from the wrong side of the tracks working a dead-end job and dreaming of escaping without much chance of it actually happening...but she hadn't. She had escaped her family and escaped her lot in life...and it wouldn't have been possible without the man who was currently in the middle of throwing their eight-year-old daughter Alexis into the pool.

Alexis was the first of but by no means the last of their children. After Alexis had come their twin boys, Eli and Evan who were now six and seemed to get a kick out of emulating the Weasley twins from the Harry Potter books that she had been stupid enough to read to them. Their youngest was three-year-old Bobbie Jo. She was the little princess of the family and the one who had her daddy wrapped around her finger the tightest. She rubbed her swollen belly as she watched Aaron climb out of the pool, which the twins and Bobbie Jo had pushed him into immediately following Alexis, and quickly towel dried. This was going to be her last baby. She felt like she had spent half of the last decade pregnant, her first two book tours for her children's book series The Happy Gator had been undertaken while heavily pregnant with the twins and Bobbie Jo respectively, and this baby had been a surprise...they were not intending to have any more after Bobbie Jo. She would be getting her tubes tied following delivery. Five kids was plenty...and a bit insane.

She hadn't heard from or seen anyone in her family since the day she had left her father's house for good. She still spoke to her older brothers from time to time even though she hadn't actually seen them in person in years and two years earlier her brother James had called and informed her that her father had died of a heart attack. The only sadness she had felt was the sadness that came along with knowing that both of the people who had given her life were now gone. She didn't go to the funeral but privately visited his final resting place a few months later to say one last goodbye and leave the past at the grave. She was happy and loved. She didn't need to hold onto hurtful memories.

She jumped a little when Aaron came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. He placed a kiss on her neck.

"How you doin', mama?" He rubbed her belly.

"Absolutely perfect," She turned her head and kissed him.

_**FINIS** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea where the story cover for this story or the ending story went. Sorry, folks, I'll try and find the time to make new ones soon.


	5. Once Upon a Time...The End

Ella Wilson sighed and sat back in her desk chair. She stared at the blank Word document in front of her but her muse had completely abandoned her.

No, that wasn't quite true. There had never been a muse...just her memories, regrets, and fantasies.

Hiding behind the brown-eyed blonde, Elizabeth Windsor was just the life story of hazel-eyed black-haired, Ella Wilson told over and over again with different endings.

The only difference between Elizabeth and Ella is that after she broke up with her ex-fiance Brent, she had moved to Michigan from Florida and settled into life alone.

She had started her _Second Chances_ series of stories as a way of exercising her demons. It was a form of therapy. By writing about her life the way that she wished it could have gone at one point or another she was able to stop thinking about certain events and people.

She had told her stories and explored the lives she could have had with the four most important men from her past: Christian Glass, Aiden Guston, Brent Glass, and Jared Jackson. Sure, she had played around with their names but all four made appearances and now she felt that she could be truly done with those stories. She could close those books. Hopefully.

But her editors at _ModernRomance.com_ wanted more...she was in a real pickle.

She stood and started pacing the floors of her home office. The one thing she loved about her job was the ability to work from home.

Home was a two-bedroom ranch-style house in Warren. It was just down the street from her favorite aunt on her mother's side and far from her family in Florida and Maine.

As she paced she was startled by the ringing of her doorbell. It was only noon. The only people who ever really stopped by were her Aunt Ginny and her nephew, Reign, who her aunt had custody of. But they never stopped by before two when Reign got out of school.

Glancing through the peephole her heart nearly stopped beating.

There was no fucking way. He couldn't be there.

She glanced through the peephole again, just to be sure...it wouldn't have been the first time she had mistaken a stranger for her lost love.

Shit! It really was him. How the hell did he even know where she lived? What was he doing there? He lived in fucking Florida!

"Ella, I can see your shadow moving under the door, hon," She heard his thick southern drawl for the first time in six years. "If you want me to leave, just tell me and I'll go. You don't have to pretend not to be home."

Jesus Christ, she was being such a wimp. She unlocked the heavy wooden door and stood face to face with the only man out of the four that she had been with or wanted to be that she would always regret losing.

"Hey, Jared," She smiled nervously.

His hair was no longer long. He kept his hair buzz cut these days. Even at almost thirty, he was still rocking jeans, concert t-shirts, and combat boots. It was nice to see that some things would never change.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Why were you scared to answer the door?"

"I don't know," She mumbled and gently kicked the cement of the front porch.

"Oh, I figured it was because you broke up with me by changing your phone number, e-mail address, and breaking off all contact with no explanation," He didn't sound mad. In fact, it looked like he wanted to laugh at her.

"What are you doing here?" She huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.

He walked up the porch steps and leaned against the metal railing that was only a foot away from her.

He pulled a book from behind his back and she wanted to die of embarrassment.

It was the hardback _Second Chances_ series that had been published one month earlier.

He had read it...fuck!

"Someone mailed this to me...I think it was Hera," Damn her sister to hell. "There's this really interesting character in one of these stories named Lawson...wherever did you get the idea for him?"

She wanted to crawl under a rock and die but first, she wanted to find whoever had mailed him the book (probably her sister, Hera) and murder them slowly.

She stepped outside fully and closed the door.

"You know where he came from," She leaned against the opposite railing and faced him. 

"You always said I talked like my name should be Lawson...whatever the hell the means," he laughed a little but then his expression turned serious.

"Was any of this true?" He held up the book. "The way you feel, the things you want."

She nodded. It was pointless to lie to him. He could read her like the book he was holding in his hands.

"You actually have your head screwed on straight?"

Again she nodded. "I've been on lithium for my bipolar disorder for over four years and I've had my anorexia under control for the last five."

"Can we talk inside?" He asked.

She led him into her living room where she took a seat on the sofa and he paced the living room.

"So, you really want what you wrote about in here?" He asked again, waving the book before tossing it on the coffee table.

She nodded. She had no idea where this was going but she decided to just roll with it.

"You're done running? You want marriage, babies, a normal, average life with no drama?"

"Yes...more than anything actually," She whispered.

He stopped pacing and turned to look at her.

"Did you just use my looks and personality for a character in a book or do you really still want those things with me?" He asked her huskily.

She was so scared to answer. She wasn't a character in one of her stories. This was real life and in real life, there was no author's pen to rewrite mistakes.

She also knew that in the real world you had to take chances. Life wasn't a romance story. Things weren't just handed to you on a bed of roses.

"I've always wanted those things with you," She admitted. "I just used to be too sick to have it,"

"In your story _Lupus Nix_ , Elizabeth has lupus just like her mother...does that mean you have it?" He asked her gently.

She swallowed the lump that formed in her throat and nodded.

His eyes softened and he reached out a hand to pull her up off of the sofa and into his arms where he hugged her tightly.

He leaned down until his lips were just touching her ear and whispered. "I still love you...do you still love me?"

She completely lost it and started weeping like one of her heroines from _Second Chances_.

"Yeah, I...do," She barely managed to get out.

He picked her up in his arms and she wrapped her legs around his waist as he kissed her. He didn't care that her face was soaked with tears.

He didn't put her down as he pulled back and said, "So, I have an idea,"

"I'm listening," She laid her head on his shoulder as he used his hands on her ass and back to hold her close to him.

"I say we don't play this like one of your stories. I admit that I've fucked up in the past, you admit that while you technically fucked up it wasn't your fault because you were manic depressive and not getting treatment."

"Okay," She nodded.

"I tell you now that whether you're on birth control or not, I'm not using a rubber because one, I don't like the way they feel, and two, I wouldn't mind knocking up the woman that I plan to marry just as soon as she lets me. We just skip all of the drama and go right for happily ever after." He kissed her neck.

"Deal," She giggled through her tears.

Later that night as they lay naked and sated in her bed, Ella couldn't help but be glad that life wasn't really like the stories she wrote. You didn't always need drama to get to happily ever after...although it made the journey so much more meaningful.

She thought about Christian. She had never had a chance with him and she knew it but he was a nice guy and she had had a crush on him when she was involved with his brother. She heard he was married now with another kid. She was happy for him.

She thought about Aiden. The older boy with the pill-popping habit that she had crushed on when she was a teenager. Sadly, the last time she had googled his name she had found several mug shots and in each one he looked more strung out than the one before. He hadn't been able to save himself and it didn't look like his evangelical Christian family had even tried to help him.

She thought about Brent. You would think that she would hate him for everything that he had put her through. For the lifestyle that he had introduced her to but she really didn't. She had gotten her what-if's on paper and now she wished him all the best. People often forget that before hate usually comes love and after anger comes forgiveness and a little bit of that love back.

She thought about the tall, lanky man the lay beside her with his leg thrown over hers and his arm around her waist. Jared had always been the one there to catch her when she fell. She was proud that she had been independent and made a nice life for herself but it was nice to know that he was there...and that now he would never be going anywhere again.

Ella's late teens and most of her twenties had been drama-filled years that would impress the writers of _General Hospital_. She had loved, lost, and then loved again.

She had had her highs and her very, very lows but she had still ended up where fate intended with the man fate intended.

What was the line from that Rascal Flatts song?

_God bless the broken road that led me straight to you..._

**_ THE END _ **

**_ _ **


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